There is an anti-Cornishness that sees us as being single-minded simpletons, rather than a complex and multi-faceted place like any other.

They don't want to understand why we voted leave, they just enjoy their prejudice and superiority. No matter your vote, we cannot accept it. https://twitter.com/cornwalllive/status/1297541343649181697

I would have preferred Cornwall to remain. But even as a remainer I can understand why we voted to leave. First of all Cornwall is remote from centres of political power. Politics seems remote from here, and politicians do not seem to understand Cornwall, seeing us as being 1/9

either a wilderness where nothing happens, or a giant holiday park good for nothing except second homes. It's natural that there is an anti-politics feeing here that used the referendum to stick one to Westminster types. There's also class issues, the Cornish middle class is 2/9

relatively new and small in numbers, and despite the middle class being largely remain there aren't enough to make an impact. Another factor is the decline of traditional industries like mining, and the perceived threat that the EU posed to other industries so linked to 3/9

Cornish identity, farming and fishing. There is an in-migration factor, there are many English people who have moved here, a majority of them retirees, and most of them wanted Brexit. There is no big university here and no big city, so there is relatively fewer young people, 4/9

and many of those who have moved away have not moved back due to the lack of jobs and affordable homes. There is also an identity issue, the Cornish are a national minority but Westminster continues to deny our existence and treat Cornwall like part of England, denying 5/9

the Cornish our own political voice and moving admin and decision making structures out of Cornwall. All Westminster parties are complicit in this. So despite Cornwall receiving a lot of EU funding, it is not entirely incomprehensible that Cornwall voted to leave, when for 6/9

decades Cornwall has been failed by Westminster, completely ignored and dismissed as a rural irrelevance. And when the Brexiteer politicians actually promised that the funding would be maintained (lie or not) assuaging a concern of many, is it really so surprising 7/9

that Cornwall took the decision it did? It's as though people think Cornwall is a simple place that would only have one sole consideration, and couldn't possibly be as complex as other parts of the UK. Instead of always of understanding why, the discourse is always the 8/9

Cornish are too stupid to know what's best for them. This is an infantilising prejudice that says we can't be trusted to make our own decisions. It is wrong, it is anti-Cornish, and it needs to stop. 9/9