Cornwall and Devon ICB merger on hold as Ben Maguire seeks guarantee

Plans to fold Cornwall’s health board into Devon’s have been pushed back by at least two years, according to one of the MPs who campaigned against them. And he wants the idea dropped altogether.

Ben Maguire, the Liberal Democrat MP for North Cornwall, says proposals to merge Cornwall’s Integrated Care Board (ICB) with Devon’s will be postponed until at least 2028. He has welcomed the news and says he is “very hopeful” the plans will then be scrapped permanently.

What Ben Maguire has said

Ben said: “I’m very glad to see that these merger plans for Cornwall’s and Devon’s ICB have been postponed, and I hope they will now be scrapped for good. My constituents were rightly worried that a merged ICB would see decisions made in Plymouth and Exeter, taking power away from the patients and communities it is supposed to represent.”

He also raised the question of money. According to Ben, Devon’s ICB is currently in deficit, and he was concerned that Cornwall’s funding could be used to plug the gap.

“With Devon’s ICB in deficit, we could not risk Cornwall missing out on funding as a result,” he said. “Cornwall’s ICB money should be ringfenced in any circumstances, and I’ll now be pursuing a firm guarantee that Cornwall’s ICB won’t be subject to any further merger plans.”

A view on the current board too

Ben’s comments were not limited to the merger. In his view, the existing Cornwall board has not served his constituency well.

“Cornwall’s ICB has a poor record of treating North Cornwall, my constituency, with anything like the fairness we should expect,” he said. “If it can’t get that right when it’s based here in Cornwall, I dread to think of the even worse effects a merged ICB would have.”

The letter signed by all six Cornish MPs

In June, Ben co-signed a letter to the Health Minister with Cornwall’s other five MPs, backing the Cornwall and Isles of Scilly ICB keeping its current footprint.

The letter, dated 23 June 2026, was sent by Truro and Falmouth MP Jayne Kirkham to Karin Smyth, Minister of State for Health (Secondary Care). It was also signed by Noah Law (St Austell and Newquay), Perran Moon (Camborne and Redruth), Anna Gelderd (South East Cornwall) and Andrew George (St Ives).

In it, the MPs wrote that Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly “have unique demographic, geographic and socio-economic characteristics” and that keeping the ability of local NHS leaders to design services for the population “is key”.

They pointed to work already under way in Cornwall, including Neighbourhood Health Teams and Community Health and Wellbeing Workers, which they said they would like to see continued investment in.

The letter also linked the issue to the Government’s proposal for a Cornwall Foundation Strategic Authority, saying it was “particularly important” that the ICB keeps a similar footprint so that health and social care line up.

“There is concern that a merger with Devon ICB could lead to greater centralisation and a loss of local control and decision-making,” the MPs wrote.

Ben says his next step is to seek a guarantee that Cornwall’s ICB will not face further merger plans.