YesCymru Central Committee rejects regional groups’ no confidence vote as ‘anti-democratic’

The Central Committee of YesCymru has rejected a vote of no confidence by regional groups at their National Committee as “anti-democratic”.

The advisory no confidence vote was taken during a meeting that was called to discuss rewriting the campaign group’s constitution and discuss the organisation of an Extraordinary General Meeting in the Autumn.

It is understood that not all regional groups voted for the vote of no confidence, with some voting against or abstaining.

YesCymru’s Central Committee said that they had concerns that not all the regional groups present had consulted all of their members.

They added that the committee members would stay in place until the forthcoming EGM when a wider vote of the membership will be taken to elect a new Central Committee.

“The YesCymru Central Committee, democratically elected at the AGM in a vote open to all members, notes the vote of no confidence perpetrated by a small number of constituted groups at Saturday’s National Committee,” they said.

“Concerns were raised by groups during the meeting, as well as by the wider membership both before and after the meeting, about the anti-democratic nature of this advisory vote.

“There have been dozens of instances of members raising concerns that they were not consulted by their local group on whether or not to support the vote.

“It should be noted that groups which abstained did so as they had not had time to consult their members.

“The current Central Committee will remain in place until the forthcoming EGM: in order to ensure the continued operations of YesCymru, including supporting staff and meeting obligations to members; to organise an EGM at the earliest practicable date; and to commission an independent review of the actions of the past six months.”

‘Concern’

Meanwhile, a body called YesCymru Groups have also published a statement saying that the vote of no confidence in the central committee was the result of “increasing concern” about its “direction”.

The body claimed to represent the 16 regional branches of the National Committee which voted that they had no confidence in the YesCymru Central Committee. The statement was sent out by YesCymru Y Bala.

In the message, it said that it regards the “immediate future” an “opportunity to heal re-calibrate”, and says it wants to “further the call” to establish Wales as an independent nation that is “confident and inclusive”.

In the statement, YesCymru Groups said: “The calls for the EGM and VONC arose from increasing concern from the CRGs and the wider membership in respect of the direction that the YCCC was taking the movement.

“YesCymru will hold an EGM in the coming weeks to elect a new YCCC, and will be active in attracting a wide range of candidates to represent the diverse membership of the movement.

“Measures will be taken to ensure that as many of the 18,500 members will participate in the ballot as possible.

“We regard the immediate future as an opportunity to heal and to re-calibrate; YesCymru must hold the ideal of independence foremost, that is, above all else, our raison d’être.

“YesCymru is looking forward to the next exciting chapter in its history, to be able to build on the phenomenal momentum generated in the past few years, and to further the call to establish Wales as an Independent nation in the world, confident and inclusive. For all those who care to call Wales their home.”