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When the question was put up if Cornwall might regret voting for Brexit because this would mean the end of EU support for the region, one candidate claimed that yes, there would be less money for Cornwall, but as after Brexit the British instead of the EU would be managing the finances and the country, they will make much more out of it and Cornwall will be much better off.

I did not know if I should cry or laugh. I mean, I know the countryside of Cornwall, Devon, Wales, Shropshire, Yorkshire and a few more pretty well. And I realize that what we tourists love is a countryside with great structural problems. You just have to drive on these fancy narrow country roads alongside hedgerows fencing small fields in rolling hills to understand, that agriculture will never happen on the industrialized level that is necessary to resist in global competition.

Aside from the doubtable statement, that the EU is managing local development, at least for me the question was: what should this better management of finances mean? Mowing the hedges and levelling the hills plus building wider roads to enable the farmers to work more productive? Or transforming the countryside into an immense “first half of 20th century” historical theme park with plenty of historic steam railways and a well-controlled park border allowing to demand immense entrance fees for tourists?

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