UK Town of Culture

Jayne Kirkham Excerpts

Wednesday 7th January 2026 Westminster Hall

[Jayne Kirkham (Truro and Falmouth) (Lab/Co-op)]

In Cornwall, we do not have big urban centres; we have towns with populations of about 20,000. That is why the UK town of culture competition is one that a large rural area such as Cornwall can get involved in. I am taking it as a good example of the Government’s commitment to, and awareness of, the rural parts of the country.

I am really lucky to come from a place with a distinctive narrative. We have our own language, which is now recognised again, and in Truro and Falmouth we have a beautiful peninsula town and a great little city, each with their own character and a strong sense of Cornish identity. Falmouth has a very distinct story. It is a vibrant place that has always turned its face outwards towards the sea. The packet ships took trade and parcels around the world from the late 1600s, and we have the two castles of Pendennis and St Mawes, built by Henry VIII, to protect Falmouth.

Now, Falmouth has an incredible arts and science university, stemming out of a 100-year-old art school, along with a thriving music scene and an active and young town council in lockstep with a strong business improvement district. The council runs an art gallery for all, a library, the peninsula headland, a newly built community radio station, and a theatre and venue. The team are award-winning and know how to run a world-class event, from international shanty festivals to the tall ships. Falmouth is inclusive and welcoming, from yacht to gig racing and from shanties and metal to Ukrainian soul. It hosts everything from the Lady of Shalott by Waterhouse to graduate shows of prosthetic props at Falmouth University in Penryn, where the Methodist chapel was recently converted into artist spaces.

Then there is Truro, Cornwall’s capital and one of the smallest cities in the UK. Lying upriver from Falmouth, it has been shaped by its proximity to the coast, as almost everywhere in Cornwall has been. There is evidence that the Phoenicians and the Romans traded with Truro, and by the 14th century it had become a significant port and stannary town, exporting locally mined tin and copper. We hope that can now happen again thanks to our critical minerals strategy.

By the 19th century, Truro was a local cultural centre. The Royal Institution of Cornwall was founded in the city to promote the arts and sciences. It was intended to provide access to culture and learning for Cornish people at a time when there was no universal education. This aim resembles that of the town of culture competition: to break down the barriers to opportunity and open up culture to everyone, even if they live in a peripheral area such as Cornwall, where some of the high arts barely come down at all.

The Royal Institution of Cornwall still exists today in the form of the Cornwall Museum and Art Gallery. Truro is also home to Cornwall’s beautifully renovated national theatre, which has just finished its Cornish panto, and our distinctive gothic revival cathedral, which hosts everything from art and silent discos to concerts. We have weekly markets, Bert Biscoe’s walking tours, fantastic pubs, bars and restaurants, and so much more.

Cornwall’s story has always been one of reinvention. When the packet service left Falmouth in the mid-19th century, the town adapted. As the river Truro silted up, the city became Cornwall’s administrative heart. Our mining industry has seen boom and bust, and now resurgence. Creativity has always sparked in Cornwall, but rurality and peripherality have often limited our opportunity. We face deprivation, which is why cultural infrastructure really matters. Whether it is one of the places I have mentioned alone, or as part of a hub-and-spoke model, they would all have my wholehearted support in the UK town of culture competition, and I urge them to apply.