I welcome this week’s cross-Party motion from Cornwall Councillors clarifying what all of us from this side of the Tamar know to be a matter of near-consensus – that the people of Cornwall want to determine our own future.

There are, of course, complexities must get right. The voice of the Scillies mustn’t be lost with new lines being drawn across the map of Britain. We must ensure for the people of South East Cornwall in particular, that co-operation with our neighbours becomes stronger than ever – something not automatically addressed by Combined Authorities which, in the absence of perfect alignment, fail to pool matters like health or education.

But, as I’ve said on numerous occasions, besides having a distinct identity, Cornwall is a "functional economic geography" with its own unique opportunities of a scale not seen in a generation. Unsurprisingly, we lack the levels of economic integration found in metropolitan combined authorities. Were we to combine we’d be one of the largest, most dispersed authorities across Britain – hardly in keeping with the intended localisation of devolution.

But, most importantly for our government’s “strategic” authorities’ focus on growth, becoming part of a regional blob with different industrial challenges and priorities could blunt our ability to capture opportunities. And, as of this week, it would appear that Cornish business agrees, highlighting concerns for Cornwall’s world-beating brand, and for the voice of small businesses which make up the backbone of our economy - rather than just those biggest companies with access to the blob.

I’ll take this opportunity to clarify Government’s position on a couple of issues, in light of some misleading claims regarding devolution:

• Government has never said that it was opposed to a Cornish footprint – having, rightly, left that decision to local people and political leaders, and;

• It is also untrue that there is somehow an exponential, rather than linear relationship between the geographical size of the devolved authority and the size of the financial settlement it receives – nowhere is this said in the white paper or in Government policy but it’s clear that deprivation will be considered – another reason to highlight Cornwall's distinctive rural challenges. Of course, there is a “default assumption” of them having a population of 1.5-million, but the White Paper accepts that “in some places, smaller authorities may be necessary”, outlining that “identity” may play a role.

So, we're finally starting to amass the proof points around the near-consensus that exists in Cornwall - from real businesses shown the survey, at the town and parish level and now, from Cornwall Councillors, who I strongly encourage to reflect the views of their residents, without fear of retribution from some imagined idea of what the Westminster Government wants.

Certainly, the people I represent in Mid Cornwall feel overwhelmingly that any deal should be done on a Cornish footprint, not Cross-Tamar, or as part of a wider regional blob. We’ve seen these regional blobs come and go in the past – and we’ve seen Cornwall’s needs passed by. I won’t allow that to happen again.

Noah Law

Labour MP for St Austell and Newquay