Wednesday, January 12, 2011

Will a Yes Vote mean That Wales Will Stand up?

Soon the great day will be upon us. March 3 rd , referendum day. The day when the Welsh people will be given the opportunity to vote on whether they wish their National Assembly to be able to pass laws without reference to the UK Parliament. If its yes then it will be the first Welsh legislature since Owain Glyndwr's Senedd in the early 15 th Century. If no then The assembly will still be able to pass laws indirectly using the cumbersome LCO process.


Though because I am living in the US this ex pat will not be able to vote. However many of my friends and family will, and how they will vote I cannot say. What I do know is that is these people that will decide this, and not the lobbyists, the Cardiff Bay Bubble clique that figured so much in the Yes launch. I am just a humble supermarket worker, I am not a lobbyist or political hack that spends his life obsessing on what happens in the Bay. No I am just an ordinary Joe who wants to see the best for his country. Its Joe and Jo who will decide, and they better understand what is going down, as I was talking someone today who believes that this about independence. She did not get this from Len Gibbs or the No campaign, but the Yes campaign need to go door to door to be sure that folk know, or they will vote No.




My first feeling was that it would be a big yes for me. To me it seemed logical, that if the Assembly could pass laws through the cumbersome process where legislation had to pass through the UK Parliament, then why not directly?

The “No” campaign seems to use scare tactics as illustrated on its web site (before they changed it at my suggestion, I think ;) ). They seemed to imply that those who were in favor of legislative powers for the Assembly were racists (opposed to English speakers). It's a shame because they could have made a good case with their criticism of the assembly's poor performance, and the infamous “ Cardiff Bay Bubble” and being out of touch with the ordinary masses.


I agree that the Assembly has not done great things (economy, education and healthcare) however it has done good things, for example free bus travel for OAPs and disabled people, free prescriptions, free breakfasts etc. These are good things in itself and probably would not have happen.

I also think it has lifted Wales's profile in the World, and that must be good.

Perhaps Wales will finally Stand up!



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