The Millennium Commission's decision not to support the scheme after so much work is concerning. In the words of Sir Geoffrey Holland, it just does not stack up. The commission says that it is the role of central government to fund education, and that these criterea were known at the outset. It says that the scheme lacks a wider community benefit, yet our submissions have shown just how widely the community would benefit, this year, next year and for decades to come, both financially and socially. Yet despite the deep disappointment and anger, all is not lost.
Much private funding is already in place and Europe backs the project.
We must now lobby the Labour Government, who came to power on promises of improved education as one of its key poilicies, to support our Cornish University. We must gird up our loins once again and with that mettle that took us so far, fight again to ensure that this dream becomes a reality. A reality for our children, for their children and for their children's children. This dream is not for us now, it is for the future, for the people of Cornwall in the next millennium. We had a dream, we still have that dream.