Cornish MPs say Reform’s Kernewek leaflet ban still hits Cornwall

Three of Cornwall’s four Labour MPs say Reform UK was handed a chance to back down and chose to dig in instead. In a statement issued yesterday evening, they warn that even a rewritten version of Reform’s amendment, one the party now says would cover only England and Wales, would still make it a criminal offence to publish election leaflets in Kernewek. Because Cornwall sits within England, they argue, the Cornish language would be caught either way.

The amendment behind the row

The dispute centres on Amendment NC107 to the Representation of the People Bill. Led by Richard Tice, the Reform UK MP for Boston and Skegness, and co-sponsored by six of the party’s MPs, it would require election material to be published only in English or Welsh. Anyone who prints or publishes election material in another language would commit an offence, punishable on summary conviction by up to six months in prison, a fine, or both.

Cornish, or Kernewek, is neither English nor Welsh. The amendment makes room for Welsh but not for Kernewek, even though the Government recognised the Cornish language in January 2026 under Part III of the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages, the same standing already held by Welsh and Scottish Gaelic. Under the amendment as written, an election leaflet produced in Cornish would fall foul of the rule.

The three MPs behind this latest statement are Anna Gelderd (South East Cornwall), Noah Law (St Austell and Newquay) and Perran Moon (Camborne and Redruth), all Labour. Their first objections came in an earlier joint statement, signed by five of Cornwall’s six MPs from Labour and the Liberal Democrats, which called the plan a direct attack on the Cornish language.

Reform’s response

After that first statement, a Reform UK spokesperson set out the party’s position in correspondence reported by Byline Times. The spokesperson said the amendment “was drafted for application in England and Wales, not in Scotland and Northern Ireland”, and that it aims to keep elections “fought in domestic languages”.

Reform has since signalled it would bring the measure back in a form that applies only to England and Wales. Byline Times reports that the party put the current wording’s inclusion of Scotland and Northern Ireland down to an administrative error, and claimed the bill it amended had been dropped. According to Byline Times, the bill has not been dropped. It has been postponed to September to make room for the Hillsborough bill.

Why the MPs say Cornwall stays in the firing line

For the three Cornish MPs, limiting the amendment to England and Wales changes nothing for Kernewek. Cornwall is part of England, and the amendment permits only English or Welsh, so a ban covering England would still criminalise Cornish-language election materials.

In their statement, the MPs said Reform had been given the chance to show it valued Cornwall and the place of Kernewek in Cornish identity, and had “done the opposite”. Under the amendment, they said, Cornish-language election materials “would still be criminalised and punishable by up to six months in prison”. That, they argued, leaves two possibilities: Reform has either forgotten Kernewek exists, or does not count it as a domestic language.

The statement closes on a pledge. “Once more, we will fight this amendment in Parliament.”

Mebyon Kernow says the ban would catch its own name

Mebyon Kernow, the party for Cornwall, has also hit out at the plan in its own statement. Cllr Loveday Jenkin, speaking for the party, said she found it “extremely worrying that Reform MPs have such little respect for the Cornish language” and the national minority status of the Cornish people.

📷Image: Mebyon Kernow

She said the clause was drawn so broadly that it would stop Mebyon Kernow activists from putting their own party name on election materials, because the name is in Cornish. The party said it opposes any amendment that dictates which languages may appear on election leaflets, arguing that “all inhabitants of the UK should be able to read about party policies in the language that they speak”.

Mebyon Kernow also pointed to a separate amendment tabled by Conservative MPs. According to the party, that measure would ban election material published in a foreign language, but would leave untouched native languages of the British Isles such as Cornish, Welsh, Irish and Ulster Scots, along with British Sign Language and Braille.

A backlash beyond Cornwall

The proposal has drawn criticism across the UK and in the Republic of Ireland. Byline Times reports objections from figures in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, with campaigners raising concerns about Scottish Gaelic, Scots and Irish alongside Kernewek, and some warning it would sit awkwardly with the Good Friday Agreement.

The bill is due back in Parliament in September, when the three Cornish MPs say they will renew their opposition.