A FORMER member of AUOB has split from the group and is to run a separate series of marches under the Yes2 banner next year – with one set to clash with the Bannockburn event in June.

Gary Kelly is planning a march in nearby Falkirk under the Yes2 banner on the same date.

Manny Singh, who was previously forced out of the AUOB, is also planning independence marches next year, meaning three organisations will be running similar events.

Three of Singh’s rallies would have clashed with AUOB marches this year had they not been postponed because of the coronavirus lockdown, although Singh still plans to go ahead with the Edinburgh date in the autumn.

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Yes2 has just announced their series of marches following Kelly’s split from AUOB in March, along with three others on the committee.

The resignations came after a disagreement over a proposal to fund at least two full-time positions in the organisation as well as reimburse committee members for their time on AUOB business.

Kelly told the Sunday National he did not object in principle to funding two posts but did not like the way it was being done.

“I said if they launched a crowdfunder saying it was to pay full-time wages I would support that, but people need to know what you are doing.”

He added: “It is all very well getting your expenses covered for going to council meetings and stuff like that but I don’t want an hourly rate for travelling to these meetings. That is not what it is about. It is a voluntary organisation and not about getting paid to load and unload a van or whatever else.”

Kelly has taken over Yes2 after co-founder Iain Aitken died last year and said he had decided to organise some marches to offer an alternative to AUOB. He said he wasn’t competing with AUOB or Singh’s Independence for Scotland as he didn’t want to get involved with the “turmoil”.

“I just want to offer an alternative and go to different places without all the hassle,” he said. “If we are marching every other week we are still showing a desire for independence – it doesn’t matter the number of marchers that are there. You will get the numbers up eventually.”

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He said he had organised a march for Falkirk on June 26 before AUOB announced their Bannockburn date which is held every year to mark the anniversary of the battle on June 23 and 24. At least seven other marches are planned by Yes2, beginning in Edinburgh in April, followed by Perth, Falkirk, Dalkeith, Coatbridge, Glasgow and Dundee.

However Neil Mackay said he feared the rash of marches was going to cause confusion and could lead to poorer turn-outs.

“We have built up momentum but this saturates the calendar. The AUOB marches are the recognised big ones that make the impact but if Yes2 do ones a few days before or after it is just going to dilute things.

“Even if it is not a direct clash it is the exact same thing we are trying to do.”

Mackay pointed out that when AUOB had first been set up at the end of 2014 it was hoped that a second referendum would be in the near future rather than still uncertain almost six years later.

In the meantime as the marches had grown, so had the workload.

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“Gary thought everybody should be doing it for the cause and there should not be any innovation at all,” said Mackay. “He did not seem to grasp what was involved and the amount of commitment and energy you put in and the sacrifices with work.”

Mackay said one of the positions would be his current unpaid role of national co-ordinator while the other would be with regard to the website and the retail side which, before the lockdown, was “like a proper little business”.

“We need to make things fit for purpose, otherwise it is just going to implode,” said Mackay.