Ahead of Wednesday’s debate on Welsh Government international spending, Cytûn has called on Members of the Senedd to reject a motion it describes as cynical and divisive — and to choose common ground over fresh division.
When Members of the Senedd debate Motion NDM9249 put forward by Reform UK, this Wednesday, 17 June, they will be asked to vote on whether Wales should end all of its international spending. Cytûn: Churches Together in Wales has urged them, from every party, to say no.
For a small nation, Cytûn argues, looking outward has never been an indulgence. It is part of who Wales is. Our engagement with the world sustains jobs through trade and inward investment; it opens horizons for young people through the Taith programme, which has already taken learners from every corner of Wales to more than ninety countries; and it honours our commitments to neighbours living in extreme poverty through the Wales and Africa programme. Wales is the world’s first Fair Trade Nation and a Nation of Sanctuary — and a globally responsible Wales is a duty already written into our law through the Well-being of Future Generations Act.
The sums at stake are modest: a fraction of one per cent of the Welsh budget. The return — in prosperity, reputation and good conscience — is considerable.
This outward gaze is not new. A century ago, in 1924, some 390,296 women of Wales — almost a third of the nation’s women — signed a peace petition appealing to the women of America to help build a world ruled by law rather than war. They organised house to house, through chapels and congregations the length and breadth of the country, the memorial of more than seven miles of signatures was returned home to Wales in 2023 and now rests in the National Library. It is a reminder that friendship and responsibility beyond our borders run deep in the life of our churches and communities.
Deeper Concern
Cytûn’s concern, however, runs deeper than this single motion. The body has expressed real disquiet at a style of politics that reduces complex questions to false either/or choices, and at motions framed less to govern than to divide.
Dr Cynan Llwyd, General Secretary of Cytûn, who issued the briefing, said:
“At a moment of genuine global challenge, the people of Wales are entitled to legislators who take their office seriously — representing all their constituents, weighing all competing views in good faith, and choosing the patient work of building up over the theatre of dividing. Now that the binary politics of the election is behind us, we hope Members will model the kind of public life that seeks common ground rather than fresh division.”
Cytûn will continue, without fear or favour, to stand for a Wales that is confident, generous and unafraid of the world beyond its shores — and, at the start of this seventh Senedd, we call for a politics conducted with grace, compassion and a genuine regard for all.
Cytûn has shared the full briefing on Motion NDM9249 with Members of the Senedd.