CORNWALL Council announced an ‘important milestone’ last week that it was pushing for formal recognition of the Cornish in 2021 Census.

Last week Cornwall Council deputy leader Julian German, Cornwall councillors and council officers met with senior officers from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) in Truro to discuss the inclusion of tick boxes for the Cornish and Cornish language on the census.

In March 2017, in its Fourth Opinion to the UK Government on the council of Europe’s Framework Con-vention for the Protection of National Minorities, the Council of Europe made a specific recom-mendation to the ONS stating it should ‘take the necessary measures to include the possibility to self-identify as Cornish, through a “tick-box” in the next census.’

In the last census in 2011, the Cornish did not have the option to tick a box to say they identified as Cornish like the Welsh, Scottish, Irish and Northern Irish and could only write Cornish under the ‘other’ option.

Mr German said the meeting was an important milestone: ‘Cornish people have a proud and distinct identity.

‘We are proud of our history and language and want this to be reflected in the way the census captures data so it’s not an “other” field in the language and identity section.

‘We believe this will provide a more accurate reflection of the number of Cornish in Cornwall and across the UK.

‘An accurate count of Cornish language speakers is a key factor in influencing funding and devolution – this is key to helping us get a better deal and more funding for Cornish people and culture,’ the deputy leader said.

In response to the news, Cornwall Councillor for Callington and town councillor Andrew Long said: ‘We welcome the decision of Cornwall Council to support the campaign for a Cornish tick box — it is a really simple but effective way to ensure that people who consider themselves Cornish can effectively mark that in the census.’

Although no commitment has been made from the ONS on the inclusion of the Cornish as a tick box option, the office reaffirmed their commitment to support ethnic groups across the UK.

‘Our meeting identified some really helpful points in the development and operation of the next census where ONS and Cornwall Council can work together to have a successful census in 2021,’ said Ben Humberstone, prog-ramme director, 2021 Census, ONS.

The meeting is the latest push to gain more recognition for the Cornish and comes three years after the UK Government gave Cornish the same status as other Celtic communities the Scots, Welsh and Irish. This recognition by the UK government within the Framework Convention is not affected by Brexit.

Some 73,200, or 14% of the total population, stated in the 2011 Census that they have Cornish national identity, with 464 of them Cornish language speakers.