One in the eye for the Welsh Political Establishment... or is that the Welsh Political Elite? (more on that to follow;)):
We have always been and will remain a group of people who puts its case using only the money of its supporters.”Len Gibbs fromTrue Wales, on the group's announcement that it did not want lead campaign status and to take 70 grand of taxpayers' money.
8 comments:
Not really one in the eye for the Yes campaign that True Wales panicked about the fact that it was unlikely to reach the Electoral Commission's standards for being designated an official campaign that they decided not to even go for it.
Ironically the Yes campaign don't need the £70k, it's the No side that does. You can only use that money for office rental and salaries - the Yes campaign gets it's office space free from trade unions / political parties and does not employ anyone because they have enough volunteers.
There's only two reasons behind this decision by True Wales:
1. Afraid that the rumours were true and the Electoral Commission would reject their application due to lack of organisation and no support
2. Stifle public debate and the flow of information so that they can continue to spread lies on doorsteps.
Also, the only person registered with the Electoral Commission for donating £10k or more for the No Campaign.....a member of Pontypridd Monster Raving Loony Party :-D
Ah right.
That'll explain the Establishment's hysterical reaction to the decision then: "There'll be no national debate"???!!!
The Establishment have obviously have got the dosh and their lap-dog media behind them, why should they care?
How is that hysterical? Without any side getting official status there will be no mailshots, no party polictical broadcasts. With something like 90% of Welsh people reading London newspapers and watching UK-wide news do explain how you get a national debate now?
Also of course not being an official representative of the No campaign allows "True" Wales to keep dragging the whole thing to the gutter with lies and attacks- they don't have to stick to the Electoral Commission's standards now.
This decision will increase the Yes campaigns advantage since they have more funds and volunteers but will reduce turnout - giving us years of anti-devolutionists claiming that there's no mandate even though they got trounced.
To be fair though there may be a third reason why "True" Wales (or Wales Indeed as their mistranslated Welsh name says) made this decision. According to their spokesman on radio last night they did not believe they would be accepted by the Electoral Commission as the official No campaign because they did not have any supporters in large parts of Wales.
What's the problem Hen?
You've got a free run, haven't you?
The full Welsh political Establishment and their assorted media lapdogs are behind extra powers... so what are you waiting for, go on, convince the electorate how important it is to the Devocrats that they vote.
The problem is that I believe in democracy and therefore would like people to hear both sides of an argument.
In terms of how it will effect the result it makes the Yes camp's predicted victory more likely.
In terms of turnout it will lessen it. But to be frank I'm not too worried about that. It will be a low turnout for a reason - the reason being that this is not a big constitutional change and that in most people's minds a referendum is pointless.
My only annoyance is that anti-devolutionists (regularly polled as being between 10 and 15% in Wales, same minority opinion as those who want independence) will keep moaning about "only X% voted for it" and always forget to point out that a smaller % voted against it!
They are not prevented from hearing the argument merely because the taxpayer has been saved 7ö grand and the Welsh electorate a pile of mailshots that they'll dump out with the "Congratulations, you've won a free holiday" scams.
With regards your last point, well, they'll be right won't they?! Why are you expecting your opponents to take the responsibility for your own failure to motivate the electorate?
And just as a matter of interests with the Welsh Conservatives now also being in the Devolution camp, who (of the democratic parties) now represents those who've had enough of devolution?
The £70k is of no importance. As the Yes campaign had said for months there would have been no way they could have spent that money anyway because they don't have wages to pay (volunteers) and don't need to rent office space (plenty of organisations to donate space).
The importance is that not being an official organisations means they are not able to spend as much of their OWN money as they would have (money used to inform the public), do not get a PPB and the news coverage this usually generates and the mailshot.
As to my last point about turnout you seem to think that someone not voting means they don't want the thing being offered. That's clearly untrue. If they didn't want it they'd vote no.
Not voting in a referendum is a sign that the question being asked is too trivial for most people to bother voting on. And I would agree with them. This is not a huge constitutional change, not even a big one. It's a minor change that never needed a referendumn. Only reason we are having one is because in 2006 Labour AM's and MP's couldn't agree what to do.
With the Tories in the Devolution camp and UKIP announcing last week that they had no official position the only political party who is arguying for a No vote is the Monster Raving Looney Party (no joke). That's quite appropriate when you remember that the amount of people who have had enough of devolution is about 13% and falling every year.
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