Nigel Farage discusses Cornwall Council, the party's future, policy, and upcoming election hopes
Copyright: James Davies, Tindle Newspapers
Copyright: James Davies, Tindle Newspapers
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00:00So I think first of all, I think the main question is why should people in Cornwall put their faith in reform?
00:05Well, I'll tell you what, it means something new because it's not working as it is.
00:09It's very interesting, I mean Cornwall was the first sort of unitary model of local government.
00:15The argument was get rid of all the district councils, get rid of the county council, have a Cornwall council.
00:21It'll be streamlined, it'll save money, it'll be more efficient.
00:24And guess what, guess what, the daily interest payments on the debt for Cornwall county council are a stunning £147,000 a day.
00:37And I put this out at our national launch of the local election campaign for a couple of senior officials here that attacked me but then admitted that I was right.
00:46And you know, it's not easy for county councils, I'm not saying there's a magic wand here.
00:50I get it, ageing population, social care costs, the SEND, problem with kids, particularly when the pandemic did so much harm to so many young people, which is awful.
01:01Central government, I get all this, but to have run up levels of debt like this is literally beyond comprehension.
01:10And I look at the politics of this county, it's fascinating, isn't it?
01:14It goes from Conservative to no Conservatives in Parliament to Lib Dems, a couple of Labour.
01:19Unbelievable how things have changed down here.
01:22And even in 2021, which was the high watermark for the Conservatives in modern times, even then there were lots of Lib Dems, some Greens, some Labour, some Curnow candidates winning.
01:33So you've got a situation quite unique in this county where there will be wards being contested on May the 1st that are five or six way party marginals.
01:44There is nowhere else like Cornwall, literally.
01:47And I think because of our national vote surge and because there is an understanding that government just isn't working for people at local level, I think we're going to be very, very one.
01:58But I mean, truth is, truth is, there will be dozens of seats in Cornwall decided by 100 votes here, 100 votes there.
02:07Is there not a concern that votes may be split between yourselves and the Conservative Party?
02:12Is that not something you're worried about?
02:12No, not really. If you look at what's happened since the election, we've taken much more from Labour than we've taken from the Conservatives.
02:20I would suggest to you that it's Labour and Cornwall that will be very, very worried, particularly in some of their stronger areas, about what we do.
02:28And across the county, there seems to be a bit of a tiredness with regards to politics, local and national.
02:34What is it that you make of that?
02:35You know, apart from high summer, when Cornwall is the place everybody wants to be, for the rest of the year, it's kind of out on its own at the end.
02:46Avri salaries here are lower on Avri than any other county in England.
02:52The economics isn't working.
02:53And now we have the added threat that this is a very, very rural county.
03:01Many of the farms here are old family farms that have been run for generations and may now feel directly under attack.
03:09The fishing industry feels that whilst Brexit was the right thing to do, it's not been delivered for them.
03:17So I sense that there's perhaps more disenchantment in this county than in many others around the country.
03:24And during these local election campaigns, I've seen quite a lot of discussion of issues that you might consider national issues.
03:33What is it that reform is going to bring to Cornwall itself?
03:36Well, it's a fair point.
03:37Are you voting on local stuff?
03:39Are you voting on national stuff when you go out in the place to make it?
03:42The truth is both.
03:44That's unavoidable.
03:45What can we bring to Cornwall?
03:48Number one, send the orders in.
03:50Let's have a look at these long-term contracts.
03:52How could you be in this much debt and potholes be that bad?
03:54I'm sorry, but that's just how I see it.
03:57I also think commercially, the dilly-dallying that's gone on around Newquay, which clearly is an asset.
04:05Not just to Newquay, but actually to the whole county.
04:08And it would appear to me that there's been no one near a real business sense that's come in.
04:16Now, we're a party with a lot of former business people.
04:20We're a party with some big links to entrepreneurs, risk capitalists around the country.
04:24I think we could give that a real go.
04:27So these are some of the things that we would do.
04:29Brilliant.
04:30I think my final question is, I've seen statements thrown around within the campaign of Save Cornwall.
04:37And I just wanted to whether you could let me know what it is that you'd be saving Cornwall from.
04:40Oh, I think we literally want to save the country.
04:44I think we feel that the economic decline, societal decline, the things like crime, the cultural decline.
04:50I mean, look, Easter's coming up.
04:52You wouldn't even know it's a Christian festival.
04:55I mean, and if that sounds traditional to you, well, I make no apology for that.
05:00You know, we are a party that believes in traditional values.
05:05And that's centered around the importance of the family, community and country.
05:09And we feel, everyone in that room feels, those things at county and national level are under threat.
05:17We're a nation in decline and we can't turn it around with the current lot.
05:21We frankly haven't done a very good job.
05:23And let's get in there with some fresh blood and try and turn it around.
05:27Perfect.