CitizensUK General Election Assembly

Prior to the general election I attended an assembly by the organisation CitizensUK in London. The event featured leaders of the three main parties. Nick Clegg represented the Liberal Democrats, Ed Miliband represented Labour, and Sajid Javid represented the Conservatives as David Cameron had decided to withdraw at the last minute.

The assembly was hosted in order to celebrate the achievements and strength of the CitizensUk campaign, a campaign of multiple diverse organisations from churches and mosques to school and community groups. A further reason for the assembly was to hold the 3 main parties to account over their plans in government, and to attempt to lobby them to sign up to the CitizensUK manifesto.

This years CitizensUK manifesto attempted to lobby the government into implementing a time limit on indefinite detention for migrants. Under the current system a migrant can be detained indefinitely with no time limit for release. This is a flagrant disregard for individual dignity, and several former detained migrants gave their experiences at the conference.

Another key pledge, was to roll out the living wage to all government and public sector workers. A key emphasis was made for care staff to be paid the living wage, as the current system of care for the elderly and disabled is underfunded and improperly staffed. Many individuals shared their stories of the crisis in our country’s handling of care, and called on all the representatives to roll out living wage pay and improved standards.

A further key point of the pledge was to mandate the party leaders to support a crackdown on payday lenders and to allow councils to impose caps on the cost of credit. The leaders were also asked to support a fledgling project to create credit unions, where individuals can borrow credit without having to resort to “Wonga style loans”.

The full manifesto is available at the CitizensUK site: http://www.citizensuk.org/citizens_uk_manifesto_2015

The manifesto consisted of 8 key demands, and each party leader was lobbied on their support to each point of the manifesto.

Nick Clegg supported the majority of the manifesto but declined to support the extension of the living wage to care workers. He argued that such a matter is devolved to local authority control and such a decision on budget is under their jurisdiction. He also declined to support the creation of credit union, stating that it was a great idea but the money had already been spent on another project. He emphasised his support to CitizensUK and agreed to all their demands of continued meetings throughout the next government.

Ed Miliband agreed with every point that Nick Clegg had agreed to in the manifesto but on many points he went further in his support. He promised the first thing that would occur while he was in power would be to roll out the living wage to all government workers within the first few months of government. He along with Nick Clegg emphasised the travesty of the injustice of imprisoning migrants for several months to even years in some cases. Both the Liberal Democrats and Labour promised that there would be a time limit set up for detention of migrants.

First to speak was Sajid Javid, who had filled in for David Cameron on short notice. Unfortunately Sajid Javid, as the Conservatives representative, failed to agree to any of the 8 key manifesto points. He opposed the idea of a cap on indefinite detention, as each case should be judged on their own merits. He also failed to accept the proposal for continued meetings with CitizensUK throughout the next government. It felt very insulting as an audience member that the Conservative Party had deemed to not take the work of Citizens UK seriously.

I attended the event as a member of the fledgling Swansea branch of CitizensUK. I felt the issues that were being raised, and the profile of the representatives invited was important enough to attend as a representative from the Students Union.

I was seriously impressed by CitizensUKs style of campaigning. Much emphasis was placed on the personal effect of the issues raised in the manifesto, and the leaders were directly lobbied by individuals providing the stories and other CitizensUk members. It showed a different way of making change within a society and voicing your democratic right.

With a Conservative majority elected in the General Elections hopefully CitizensUk can continue to lobby the party to consider the issues further and to discuss with the organisation in the future.

To read more about the event an article is linked here : http://www.churchtimes.co.uk/articles/2015/8-may/news/uk/party-leaders-put-on-the-spot-at-citizens-uk-assembly

Cyn yr etholiad cyffredinol, mynychais wasanaeth wedi’i gynnal gan y sefydliad CitizensUK yn Llundain. Fe wnaeth y digwyddiad cynnwys arweinwyr y tair prif blaid. Fe wnaeth Nick Clegg cynrychioli’r Democratiaid Rhyddfrydol, fe wnaeth Ed Miliband cynrychioli Llafur, ac fe wnaeth Sajid Javid cynrychioli’r Ceidwadwyr oherwydd penderfynodd David Cameron i beidio â dod ar y funud olaf.

Cafodd y gwasanaeth ei gynnal er mwyn dathlu llwyddiannau a chryfder ymgyrch CitizensUk, ymgyrch a oedd yn cynnwys nifer o sefydliadau amrywiol o eglwysi a mosgiau i ysgolion a grwpiau cymunedol. Rheswm arall dros gynnal y gwasanaeth oedd dal y tair prif blaid i gyfrif dros eu cynlluniau mewn llywodraeth, ac i geisio eu lobïo i arwyddo i faniffesto CitizensUK.

Fe wnaeth maniffesto CitizensUK eleni geisio lobïo’r llywodraeth i weithredu terfyn amser ar gadw cyfnod amhenodol i ymfudwyr. Dan y system gyfredol, gall ymfudwr gael ei gadw heb derfyn amser am ei ryddhad. Dyma anwybyddiad i gywilydd i urddas unigol, a rhoddodd nifer o ymfudwyr a gadwyd eu profiadau yn y gynhadledd.

Addewid allweddol arall oedd cyflwyno’r cyflog byw i weithwyr y llywodraeth a’r sector cyhoeddus. Gwneir pwyslais allweddol ar staff gofalu i gael eu talu’r cyflog byw, gan fod y system gyfredol o ofalu am yr henoed a phobl ag anabledd yn cael ei danariannu a’i staffio’n amhriodol. Rhannodd nifer o unigolion eu straeon o’r argyfwng o sut y mae ein gwlad yn delio â gofal, a gelwyd am y cynrychiolwyr i gyflwyno’r cyflog byw i wella safonau.

Rhan allweddol bellach o’r addewid oedd yr addewid i fandad arweinwyr y pleidiau i gefnogi mesurau llym ar fencythwyr diwrnod cyflog a gadael i gynghorau orfodi capiau ar gost y credyd. Gofynnwyd i’r arweinwyr i gefnogi prosiect egin i greu undebau credyd, lle gall unigolion fenthyg credyd heb ddewis bencythiadau fel “Wonga”.

Mae’r maniffesto llawn ar gael a gwefan CitizensUK: http://www.citizensuk.org/citizens_uk_manifesto_2015

Roedd y maniffesto yn cynnwys 8 galwad allweddol, a chafodd arweinwr bob plaid ei lobïo ar ei gefnogaeth ar bob rhan o’r maniffesto.

Fe wnaeth Nick Clegg gefnogi rhan fwyaf o’r maniffesto ond fe wnaeth ef wrthod cefnogi estyniad ar gyflog byw gweithwyr gofal. Dadleuodd fod mater fel hwn yn ddatganoledig i bwer awdurdodau lleol a bod penderfyniad fel hwn ar gyllid dan eu hawdurdodaeth nhw. Gwrthododd i gefnogi creu undeb credyd, gan nodi bod e’n syniad da ond bod yr arian wedi cael ei wario yn barod ar brosiect arall. Fe wnaeth ef bwysleisio ei gefnogaeth o CitizensUK a chytunodd i’w galwadau o gyfarfodydd trwy gydol y llywodraeth nesaf.

Cytunodd Ed Miliband gyda’r un pwyntiau â Nick Clegg yn y maniffesto ond aeth e’n bellach gyda’i gefnogaeth am nifer o bwyntiau. Fe wnaeth ef addo i gyflwyno’r cyflog byw i weithwyr llywodraethol o fewn y misoedd cyntaf mewn llywodraeth. Yn debyg i Nick Clegg, pwysleisiodd warth anghyfiawnder carcharu ymfudwyr am fisoedd i flynyddoedd mewn rhai achosion. Fe wnaeth y Democratiaid Rhyddfrydol a Llafur addo y bydd terfyn amser ar gadw ymfudwyr.

Y cyntaf i siarad oedd Sajid Javid, a oedd yn llenwi am David Cameron ar ôl derbyn rhybudd byr. Yn anffodus, anghytunodd Sajid Javid, cynrychiolwyr y Ceidwadwyr, i bob un o’r 8 galwad allweddol yn y maniffesto. Roedd ef yn erbyn y syniad o roi terfyn amser ar gadw ymfudwyr, oherwydd y dylai pob achos cael eu beirniadu ar ei rinweddau ei hun. Hefyd, methodd i dderbyn y cynnig am gyfarfodydd parhaol gyda CitizensUK trwy gydol y llywodraeth nesaf. Roedd hi’n teimlo’n sarhaus iawn i fod yn aelod o’r gynulleidfa gan fod y blaid Ceidwadwyr wedi ystyried i beidio cymryd gwaith Citizens UK yn ddifrifol. Mynychais y digwyddiad fel aelod o gangen CitizensUK egin Abertawe. Teimlais fod y materion y cafodd eu codi a phroffil y cynrychiolwyr a wahoddwyd yn ddigon pwysig i fynychu fel cynrychiolydd o Undeb Abertawe.

Roedd arddull ymgyrchu CitizensUK wedi creu argraff dda arnaf i. Cafodd llawer o bwyslais ei roi ar effaith personol y materion a godwyd yn y maniffesto, a chafodd yr arweinwyr eu lobïo yn uniongyrchol gan unigolion yn darparu straeon ac aelodau CitizensUk eraill. Roedd hyn yn dangos ffordd wahanol o newid pethau o fewn y gymdeithas a lleisio eich hawl democrataidd.

Gyda’r Ceidwadwyr yn ennill yr Etholiad Cyffredinol, gobeithio y gall CitizensUk barhau i lobïo’r blaid i ystyried materion pellach ac i drafod y sefydliad yn y dyfodol.

I ddarllen rhagor am y digwyddiad, dyma erthygl amdano: http://www.churchtimes.co.uk/articles/2015/8-may/news/uk/party-leaders-put-on-the-spot-at-citizens-uk-assembly