Taking in account True Wales has been going for quite some time now there does not seem to me to be the emphatic support of a grassroots movement that they claim to represent. It would be wrong for me to claim that we can use Facebook membership as a complete measure of how much an issue is supported but it is the only real source we have and at the moment it is telling that despite being in existence far longer than the Yes for Wales campaign True Wales has failed to gather any form of grassroots support and one wonders how the media can justify tallowinf them to make such claims without any form of challenge.
I suspect that the media and the BBC are promoting True-Wales as such because they think it will male the referendum more intresting. They may be right but thats no reason not to point out how Little support they have in reality.
This is one other way you can measure the extent of True Wales support and that comes from their own website.
On this they have a link to a online petition that has been in existence since April 22 2010
which state.
We, the undersigned, oppose plans for direct law-making power to be granted to the Welsh Assembly.
We believe that such power is unnecessary and will result in:
additional costs. W
a further step towards separation from the UK.
centralisation without bringing real power closer to the people.
no additional economic benefits.
We call upon our representatives to use the powers they already have, and focus their efforts on improving public services and job opportunities for the whole of Wales.So far this has attracted only 728 signatures despite being in existence for over ten months . Their aim was for over 10,000 so they have only reached 7.3% of their target.
In comparison a petition startes on the 25 January to Keep Driving Standards Agency jobs in Cardiff (Sign Here) has already reached 403 signatures.
I think its clear from this that True Wales are not a grassroots movement but rather a movement that no one really supports apart from a few disgruntled Labour people in Gwent and those who support UKIP.
7 comments:
I think stated support for True Wales is pretty much irrelevant. As I commented on MH's blog people may vote 'no' on the basis of a single policy.
In the South Wales Echo last night an Assembly worker in the Education Dept said she would be voting 'no' because she felt the Welsh-language lobby held too much sway.
The 'yes ' campaign has to find a way of keeping a focus on the transfer of powers while not dismissing people's concerns about the Assembly's performance or issues like bilingualim.
Hendre
Now please be fair, its not just disgruntled gwent labourites and UKIP who support them, the BNP and David Davies do too!
Like you I'm a believer in “Decentralised Socialism”. Can we have an Assembly in north Wales, please?
"a few disgruntled Labour people in Gwent and those who support UKIP." Don't forget the usual suspects of the far right of the Tory party and BNP also support True Wales - nuff said.
Anonymous 18:29 and Dave Jones.
Yes you can add these to the List.
Gwilym ap Llew.
I think the best idea would be to give more power to local Communities by reforming councils to match these communities and at the same time making sure they are effectively funded. Power should go where its most effective.
True Wales's facebook group is pretty dormant - no movement since the 12th January. Their promised daily updates of their web-pages appears to have come to halt after January 19th.
It was apparent from the pictures from their launch that most of their members are drawn from the pre-computer generation, so perhaps that is to be expected, but there is no sign that they do anything else, either. They did not show up at Swansea City Centre yesterday, or if they did, they were very, very quiet.
Glyn Beddau
It would be great to think that the votes cast on the 3 March will reflect the stated support shown on the True Wales and Yes for Wales web sites.
I found the True Wales web site totally uninspiring; so much of what they say is contradictory
and its tone is entirely negative. However, people are going to have all sorts of reasons for voting no on 3 March which have nothing to do with the proposal for further powers (as already pointed out by Hendre 16:45)
As Anon 18:29 has also pointed out, True Wales are not the only ones who oppose further powers for the Assembly. In addition to those listed I’m sure that Kinnock, Howells & co will be doing their utmost to ensure that Wales continues to know its place.
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