CAMPAIGNERS pushing for the Assembly not to be given more powers have rejected a chance to use taxpayers' money to press their case.
At their launch event, True Wales said it would not apply for lead status and the �70,000 of public campaign money that would come with it.
Its stance has prompted a fundraising drive from yes campaigners who are set to miss out on the money too because the rules require both sides have a lead group or neither side.
Mike Elias, the Carmarthen-based True Wales representative for South West Wales, told the Journal their campaign would try to highlight the implications of giving the Assembly more powers and its record with the powers it already has.
He said: "We want to try to get out of them, the yes campaign, their opinion on tax raising and borrowing powers because they don't like to talk about it.
"We also want to ask them about the legislative system — that seems to be part of their agenda — and criminal justice.
"We say that more powers will lead down the slippery slope of independence.
"We are challenging what they've actually done with the powers that they have already got. The record speaks for itself."
He said the Assembly had been disastrous for education, had overseen a reduction in living standards, despite having billions of pounds in EU funding, and was being contradictory in charging for plastic bags in shops while encouraging a move away from bins to plastic bags for waste collection.
Mr Elias said the Assembly was even more likely to pass bad laws if it was not scrutinised by MPs in London.
He said True Wales had not applied for lead status because it would have had to campaign on behalf of all those who wanted a no vote, including some whose views its members disagreed with, and because its grass roots campaign was having success without taxpayers' money.
"It was unanimously felt we couldn't justify spending �70,000 of the public's money on the campaign," he said.
True Wales' decision not to go for lead status prompted yes campaigners to launch a donation drive.
In a message to supporters, Roger Lewis, chairman of the national yes campaign, said several thousand pounds had been raised from people across Wales, but added: "Given recent events, we now need the support of the Welsh people to make sure that the issues at stake in this referendum are properly understood by every voter in Wales."
In Carmarthen, yes campaigner Christine Gwyther said: "Nationally, the no camp have tried to stifle debate by not conducting an official campaign, but their plan seems to have backfired.
"Here in Carmarthen, shoppers were very keen to talk about the referendum and seem to be giving the campaign the thumbs up."
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