Cornwall Council has been told “hold your nerve” in its bid for a Cornwall-only devolution deal from the Government.

The comment was made by one of the Duchy’s MPs during a heated debate about whether Cornwall should get into bed with other local authorities across the border.

At a meeting of the full council on Tuesday, January 21, Mebyon Kernow leader Dick Cole tabled a motion that the local authority should confirm its stance – agreed with Cornwall’s six MPs – that it should seek greater autonomy and devolution for the county, and remain a stand-alone council. He also called for all councillors to “not countenance any cross-border combined authority deals”.

The latter proved controversial among some members, who believed it was undemocratic not to have discussions with other authorities, even if Cornwall ended up not agreeing to joining a cross-border ‘super council’. The Labour Government’s English devolution white paper favours combined authorities led by an elected mayor.

Cllr Cole said: “The motion expresses support for the principle of devolution on a Cornwall footprint and states that we do not support a South West Peninsula Mayoral Strategic Authority being imposed on Cornwall.

“I acknowledge that some councillors may be fearful that, if we do not accept being subsumed into a Devonwall set-up, we may end up getting less funding from central government.

“It is fair to say that there have been some unfortunate comments of that ilk from the eastern side of the Tamar in recent days. But friends, now is not the time to be defeatist.

“We need to be bold. Now is the time to send a strong message to Westminster of what we actually want for Cornwall.”

Independent councillor Peter La Broy, who seconded the motion, added: “There is a democratic principle at stake here. Decisions about Cornwall should be made by Cornish people who live here and are invested in our future.”

A large number of councillors, across the political spectrum, spoke passionately in favour of the motion, demanding that Cornwall is allowed to run its affairs with no intervention from Plymouth or Exeter.

However, others were more cautious, stating that the Government has made it clear that combined councils would be treated more favourably and Cornwall should not dismiss that out of hand.

A number of councillors, including John Conway (Launceston) and Martin Worth (Saltash Trematon & Landrake) pointed out that the areas they represent in the east of Cornwall have a good working relationship with Devon, with many residents working over the border and having to use hospitals in Plymouth and Barnstaple.

They warned against shutting off talks with Devon over a possible deal.

The council’s Conservative portfolio holder for housing Olly Monk said: “When I hear about a sense of pride and Cornishness, I worry it might be a sense of stubbornness that will effectively harm Cornwall moving forward.

“I’ve listened to what Angela Rayner said and I’ve read the white paper, and it is clear if you want those devolved powers – if you want access to central funding for housing – you need to be part of something bigger.

“Without this extra resource and funding for Cornwall, Cornwall is going to suffer and is going to starve. I worry that we seem to be taking the approach of going on hunger strike to meet this approaching famine which could be coming our way.”

Council leader Linda Taylor said she would be put all her confidence in Cornwall’s six MPs “that they are really going to hold the Government to account and I really hope we are going to be hearing significant decision-making about Cornwall within the next six to nine months because I don’t think we can afford to wait any longer to see what the intention is for the future of Cornwall”.

One of those MPs – Liberal Democrat Andrew George – was in the chamber as the councillor for Ludgvan, Madron, Gulval and Heamoor. He said: “All six Cornish MPs are asking this council to hold its nerve. There are many occasions when we’ve campaigned for things for Cornwall and from the outset we’d had the door slammed in our faces, but we’ve ultimately won.”

He listed the examples of Objective 1 EU funding, Cornwall’s national minority status, a university for Falmouth and a council tax premium on second homes.

Mr George added that when Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner outlined the white paper to the Cornish MPs, they asked “if we don’t play ball with you, are you going to give us a punishment beating in some form?”

He added: “She said no and then we explained why Cornwall isn’t like other parts of the country and needs to be treated in a different way. She explained to us that if she opened the door to Cornwall now she’d have a queue forming down the corridor all the way to somewhere like Rutland, all saying that they are a special place too.

“So we don’t expect to be in the first round – it’s going to be a long game.

“We departed with her words ‘good luck with your campaign’. We understand it’s going to be a tough campaign to hold our nerves and to keep the political backbone to see this one through, but that’s what we intend to do.”

Mr George said there would be “inducements, baubles and bribes but this is a decision which is going to affect Cornwall for the next century. The baubles and bribes will last two or three years, don’t be seduced by those”.

Repeating what other councillors had said during the debate, he stressed the white paper had a long way to go and was not even at the draft bill stage, so Cornwall had time to fight its cause.

“It’s not about cutting ourselves off, it’s about cutting ourselves into the celebration of diversity; it’s not about separatism”.

Despite the four Labour MPs holding out for a Cornwall-only deal, the council’s Labour members appeared to be more cautious with group leader Kate Ewert and Laurie Magowan urging caution about not even considering talks with other authorities.

“I think we do ourselves a disservice if we cut ourselves off by saying we can never have those debates and conversations,” said Cllr Ewert.

Following a near two-hour debate the council voted unanimously to support Cllr Cole’s motion, which also included further calls for a meaningful devolution settlement for Cornwall, which properly reflects the Duchy’s national identity and the national minority status of the Cornish.

They also agreed that the council should write again to the Prime Minister, Deputy Prime Minister and other relevant ministers seeking a meeting with a cross-party delegation from Cornwall Council. The vote was 54 for, four against and 11 abstentions.

On the same day as the meeting, South East Cornwall Labour MP Anna Gelderd broke ranks with her fellow Cornish MPs to say all devolution options should be explored. Emphasising what a number of councillors said during the debate, Ms Gelderd highlighted the unique geography and economic ties that South East Cornwall shares with Devon. These factors, she argued, require cooperation beyond Cornwall’s borders to address the region’s challenges effectively.