Editing Mebyon Kernow (section)

=== Relaunch (1990s) ===
In 1989, Carlyon resigned as MK's leader, leading to a review of the party's long-term strategy. Being close to collapse, in April 1990, the party's London branch convened a general meeting of all party members to consider whether the party should disband; it was agreed that the party would continue.<ref>{{harvnb|Deacon|Cole|Tregidga|2003|p=90}}</ref> [[Loveday Jenkin]], daughter of Richard Jenkin, was promptly elected MK's leader.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://members.ozemail.com.au/~kevrenor/mk.htm|title=Mebyon Kernow Page in Australia|date=November 1997|website=members.ozemail.com.au|access-date=26 June 2018|archive-date=2 April 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180402123319/http://members.ozemail.com.au/~kevrenor/mk.htm|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref name="Deacon132">{{harvnb|Deacon|Cole|Tregidga|2003|p=132}}</ref> At this time, Truran, who had become a leading light in the [[Social Democratic Party (UK)|Social Democratic Party]] in Falmouth & Camborne since he had left the party in 1980, rejoined MK, re-energising the party.<ref name="Deacon128"/> Nevertheless, MK did not contest the [[1992 United Kingdom general election|1992 general election]], focusing its efforts on lobbying for an exclusively-Cornish European Parliament constituency, a Cornish unitary authority, and the recognition of Cornwall as a European region.<ref>{{harvnb|Deacon|Cole|Tregidga|2003|pp=92–3}}</ref>

Despite a promising local election result in 1993, obtaining an average of 17.5% per candidate in local government elections,<ref>{{harvnb|Deacon|Cole|Tregidga|2003|p=93}}</ref> MK's vote share declined further to 1.5% of the vote in the [[1994 European Parliament election in the United Kingdom|1994 European Parliament election]], in the new constituency of [[Cornwall and West Plymouth (European Parliament constituency)|Cornwall & West Plymouth]].<ref name=":8" /> Jenkin, who stood as the party's candidate, campaigned on a platform opposing out-of-town developments and a second Tamar crossing, and calling for greater Cornish representation in Europe.<ref>{{harvnb|Deacon|Cole|Tregidga|2003|pp=93–4}}</ref>

In 1996, MK published 'Cornwall 2000 – The Way Ahead', its most detailed manifesto to date.<ref name=":11" /> The party fought the [[1997 United Kingdom general election|1997 general election]] on its 18,000 words and delivered over 300,000 leaflets during the campaign; however, it polled merely 1,906 votes across four constituencies.<ref>{{harvnb|Deacon|Cole|Tregidga|2003|p=96}}</ref> MK activists were heavily involved in the 500th-anniversary commemorations of the [[Cornish Rebellion of 1497]]; these included a march from [[St. Keverne]] to [[Blackheath, London|Blackheath]] retracing the steps of the rebels, following which the participants demanded a Cornish Development Agency, an exclusively-Cornish seat in the European Parliament, a university campus in Cornwall and a Cornish curriculum for Cornish schools.<ref>{{harvnb|Deacon|Cole|Tregidga|2003|p=97}}</ref> The renewed interest in Cornish nationalism from this march led a group in MK to leave the party and form the An Gof National Party, another short-lived splinter group.<ref>{{harvnb|Deacon|Cole|Tregidga|2003|pp=97–8}}</ref>

On 4 October 1997, at the Mebyon Kernow National Conference, Jenkin was replaced by [[Dick Cole (politician)|Dick Cole]] as the leader of MK.<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://www.cornish-times.co.uk/article.cfm?id=112203&headline=MK%20leader%20marks%2020%20years%20at%20helm&sectionIs=news&searchyear=2017|title=MK leader marks 20 years at helm|date=2 October 2017|work=[[The Cornish Times]]|access-date=26 June 2018|language=en}}{{Dead link|date=March 2024 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> One of Cole's earliest actions as leader was to launch the Cornish Millennium Convention on 8 March 1998, coinciding with protests at the closure of [[South Crofty]], Cornwall's last working tin mine.<ref>{{harvnb|Deacon|Cole|Tregidga|2003|pp=98–9}}</ref> However, the Convention's launch was eclipsed by the formation of [[Cornish Solidarity]], a pressure group involved in direct action which grew from the South Crofty protests and had similar aims as MK.<ref>{{harvnb|Deacon|Cole|Tregidga|2003|pp=99–100}}</ref> At the party's annual conference in 1998, Richard Jenkin was elected to succeed the late Hooper as Honorary President of MK.<ref name="Deacon128"/>

In 1999, over 95% of members voted in favour of relaunching MK as '''Mebyon Kernow – the Party for Cornwall''' in order to distance itself from the ethnic nationalist 'Sons of Cornwall' label; the name change was adopted.<ref>{{harvnb|Deacon|Cole|Tregidga|2003|p=101}}</ref> Mebyon Kernow stood 25 candidates in the [[1999 UK local elections|1999 local elections]] in Cornwall, its highest number ever.<ref name=BBC2000 /> The party did not contest the [[1999 European Parliament election in the United Kingdom|1999 European Parliament election]], given the size of the new [[South West England (European Parliament constituency)|South West England constituency]] and the large prerequisite £5,000 deposit. It contested the [[2001 United Kingdom general election|2001 general election]], winning 3,199 votes across three constituencies.<ref>{{harvnb|Deacon|Cole|Tregidga|2003|p=104}}</ref>

==== Cornish Assembly Campaign ====
{{See also|Cornish Constitutional Convention}}
On 5 March 2000, MK launched a petition for a [[Cornish Assembly]].<ref name=":1" /><ref name=":2">{{Cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/1704112.stm|title=Blair gets Cornish assembly call|date=11 December 2001|work=[[BBC News]]|access-date=26 June 2018|language=en-GB|archive-date=14 March 2007|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070314052239/http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/1704112.stm|url-status=live}}</ref> This was modelled from the "Declaration for a Cornish Assembly", which stated that:[[File:1. Declaration for a Cornish Assembly.jpg|thumb|upright|Picture of Mebyon Kernow's assembly petition]]{{blockquote|[[Cornwall]] is a distinct region. It has a clearly defined economic, administrative and social profile. Cornwall's unique identity reflects its Celtic character, culture and environment. We declare that the people of Cornwall will be best served in their future governance by a Cornish regional assembly. We therefore commit ourselves to setting up the [[Cornish Constitutional Convention]] with the intention of achieving a devolved Cornish Assembly.|[[Senedh Kernow]]}}

Three months later the [[Cornish Constitutional Convention]] was held with the objective of establishing a devolved Assembly. Within fifteen months, Mebyon Kernow's petition attracted the signatures of over 50,000 people calling for a referendum on a Cornish Assembly, which was a little over 10% of the total Cornish electorate.<ref name=":1" /> A delegation including Cole, [[Andrew George (politician)|Andrew George]], then the [[Liberal Democrats (UK)|Liberal Democrat]] [[Member of Parliament (United Kingdom)|MP]] for [[St Ives (UK Parliament constituency)|St Ives]], and representatives of the Convention presented the Declaration to [[10 Downing Street]] on 12 December 2001.<ref name=":2" />