Cymru Yfory Declaration for Welsh Democracy
Posted on Wednesday, June 10, 2009 at 5:55pm
one response
Today I went to the launch of the Cymru Yfory Declaration for Welsh Democracy outside the Senedd where Rev Barry Morgan spoke about Cymru Yfory’s role in educating people about devolution, and the next step in that process. The declaration includes one hundred initial signatories- from prominent Welsh writers, to actors, sportsmen, poets, churchmen and politicians.
I was led to believe that the declaration was seeking to get signatures from new people, new names who are supportive of this agenda. This was true in that it did not include many Assembly Members or politicians, but many of the other names were quite familiar in Welsh circles. This is not a criticism at all of the efforts of Cymru Yfory, but merely an observation that there is still a long way to go in garnering more widespread support yet for a referendum. The very fact that the website allows people to sign the declaration is a great campaign tool, and a way in which local, grass roots groups that are starting up can be active locally in encouraging people to sign it.
I was a little perplexed that there was but one Tory politician ( correct me if I’m wrong) on the initial declaration. Nick Bourne AM informs me that it was only with his ‘blessing’ that David Melding’s name was there at all. It begs the question, if Nick Bourne can allow a member of his team to sign up to quite a bold statement about the future of devolution in Wales, then why could not one member of the Tory group find the time or the effort to respond to the letter that I wrote last year, asking that politicians on the backbench either in the Assembly, Westminster or the European Parliament to meet to discuss the issues surrounding more powers for Wales? There does not seem to be any strategic thinking or consistency in their attitude towards future powers for the Assembly.
Cymru Yfory has agreed to host a meeting on my behalf before the end of recess where elected representatives can come together to discuss the referendum on future powers for the Assembly, and the timelines for action. I intend to re-issue the letter that I wrote last year to politicians in the hope that more will respond this time around.
It seems to me that we must push this matter forward, and ensure that we are well prepared for when the referendum does take place. As I have said before on this blog, the no campaign has mobolized, they are out there, visible in the All Wales Convention meetings and on our airwaves. Those in favour of more powers for the Assembly must not be left behind. Yes, those who have been involved in previous and failed referendums will be more cautious, but we should be careful how we make comparisons to the present situation.
This is a new age of democracy and devolution. People are disengaged with politics, but I sincerely believe that we can captivate people’s attention by ensuring that we create a lasting, open and transparent system of democracy in Wales. The current system does not work, and serves as a disincentive for people to actually get involved in Welsh politics, and to be inspired.
And given that a Tory government in Westminster in a future general election is now almost nigh on inevitable, it is time for Labour activists to think about what that means for them. They can help to deliver more powers for Wales, and strengthen Welsh democracy at a time when they know that their powers on a Westminster level are numbered for many years to come.
Good luck to Cymru Yfory in their efforts, and I hope that their initiative goes from strength to strength.
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According to the website, the aim of the Declaration for Welsh Democracy
’is to highlight the issues at stake in the debate on Wales’ constitutional future and to win public support for law-making powers for the Assembly and a referendum to bring that into effect. It does this by drawing attention to the principles that we believe any system of governance should adhere to, and how holding a referendum on primary law-making powers for the Assembly can move us nearer to such a system in Wales. We would urge everyone who believes that Wales needs a system of governance that would allow the Assembly to get to grips with changing the lives of the people of Wales for the better, and which will be stable, accountable and democratic, to support this Declaration.
A DECLARATION FOR WELSH DEMOCRACY
We the undersigned believe that the creation of a system of effective democratic governance for Wales is a matter of major importance.
Such a system should:
Be efficient in its use of time and resources;
Be comprehensible and transparent;
Promote wide participation by the public and civil society;
Respect the autonomy of the National Assembly as the elected body which represents the people of Wales;
Offer constitutional stability and thus a means of concentrating on the implementation of a policy programme that can get to grips with the problems and release the potential of Wales.
We believe that this would best be achieved by the granting of primary law-making powers to the National Assembly, and we call for the holding of a referendum to that end.
