1997 Welsh devolution referendum

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

1997 Welsh devolution referendum
← 1979 18 September 1997 2011 →
Do you agree that there should be a Welsh Assembly as proposed by the Government?
OutcomeThe Government of Wales Act 1998 passes and the National Assembly for Wales is formed.
Results
Choice
 Votes %
Yes 559,419 50.30%
No 552,698 49.70%
Valid votes 1,112,117 99.64%
Invalid or blank votes 3,999 0.36%
Total votes 1,116,116 100.00%
Registered voters/turnout 2,222,533 50.22%
Results by unitary authorities
Saturation of colour reflects the strength of the vote.
This article is part of a series within the
Politics of the United Kingdom on the
Politics of Wales
The Crown
The Monarch

Charles III

Heir Apparent
William, Prince of Wales

Government
Welsh Government
Eluned Morgan government (list)

First Minister (list)

Rt Hon Eluned Morgan MS (L
)

Deputy First Minister
Huw Irranca-Davies MS (L)

Counsel General – Julie James MS MS (L) Chief Whip and Trefnydd – Jane Hutt MS (L) Permanent Secretary

International relations
Legislature
Senedd

Sixth Senedd

Llywydd (Presiding Officer)
Elin Jones MS (PC)

Leader of the Opposition
Darren Millar MS (C)
Shadow Cabinet (C)

Wales and the United Kingdom
HM Government
Starmer ministry

Prime Minister

Rt Hon Keir Starmer MP (L
)

Secretary of State for Wales

Rt Hon Jo Stevens MP
(L)

UK Parliament
Politics of the United Kingdom
Law and justice
Local administration
History
Subdivisions of Wales
Local government

Principal councils (leader list) Corporate Joint Committees

Local twinning

see also: Regional terms and Regional economy

Elections and referendums
Senedd elections

United Kingdom Parliament elections

European Parliament elections (1979–2020)

Local elections

Police and crime commissioner elections

Referendums

Represented in the Senedd
National and regional referendums
held within the United Kingdom
and its constituent countries

The 1997 Welsh devolution referendum was a pre-legislative referendum held in Wales on 18 September 1997 over whether there was support for the creation of a National Assembly for Wales, and therefore a degree of self-government. The referendum was a Labour manifesto commitment and was held in their first term after the 1997 election under the provisions of the Referendums (Scotland and Wales) Act 1997. This was the second referendum held in Wales over the question of devolution: the first referendum was held in 1979 and was defeated by a large majority.

The referendum resulted in a narrow majority in favour, which led to the passing of the Government of Wales Act 1998 and the formation of the National Assembly for Wales in 1999.

Background

A referendum was held in 1979 (with a parallel referendum in Scotland) proposing the creation of a Welsh Assembly, under James Callaghan's Labour government. The referendum stipulated that a Welsh Assembly would be created if supported by 50% of votes cast and 40% of the total electorate. The Scottish referendum achieved the first condition but not the second, while the Welsh referendum was defeated by almost a 4:1 majority. Indeed, although the Labour Party had committed itself to devolution in 1974 (following the advice of the Royal Commission on the Constitution) several Welsh Labour MPs (including Neil Kinnock) were very much opposed.

The 1979 referendum had been such a resounding defeat that it killed off any prospects of devolution in Wales for a generation. The almost wholly anti-devolution, unionist

Conservatives only won 11 out of 36 seats in Wales)[1] and remained in government until 1997. Over this time, the Conservative Party became increasingly unpopular in Wales. The Conservatives mostly appointed English MPs representing English constituencies to the post of Secretary of State for Wales, including William Hague and John Redwood (who famously attempted to mime the words to the Welsh national anthem at the 1993 Welsh Conservative Party conference.[2]
)

A commitment to the creation of a Welsh Assembly with executive powers was again put into the

Alex Carlile, the Leader of the Welsh Liberal Democrats, which committed both parties to support a "Yes" vote in a Welsh devolution referendum in the event of a Labour victory at the 1997 general election
. The agreement was made in the context of a potential Lib-Lab pact should Labour not win an overall majority.

There was no inter-party Constitutional Convention in Wales to define devolution

Additional Member System. This change was vital in order to gain the support of Plaid Cymru and the Welsh Liberal Democrats
in the event of a referendum.

Referendum question

Unusually for a referendum just as in the 1997 Scottish devolution referendum the electorate was asked to vote on two statements rather than a question which corresponded to the following proposal. The statements were issued both in English and Welsh.

Parliament has decided to consult people in Wales on the Government's proposals for a Welsh Assembly:
Mae'r Senedd wedi penderfynu ymgynghori pobl yng Nghymru ar gynigion y Llywodraeth ar gyfer Cynulliad i Gymru:

I agree there should be a Welsh Assembly
Yr wyf yn cytuno y dylid cael Cynulliad i Gymru

or

I do not agree there should be a Welsh Assembly
Nid wyf yn cytuno y dylid cael Cynulliad i Gymru

(To be marked by a single (X))

Campaign

The official Yes campaign,

parliamentary whip to ensure that the Labour Party was seen to be publicly behind the campaign. Yes for Wales placed a large emphasis on grassroots involvement in the campaign, with sectoral groups such as "Pensioners say Yes", and local branches throughout Wales.[6]

Prominent campaigners for a Yes vote included

Jenny Randerson, Kirsty Williams and Peter Black; Plaid Cymru politicians Dafydd Wigley, Cynog Dafis Ieuan Wyn Jones and Leanne Wood; and academic Russell Deacon
.

The official No campaign, Just Say NO, was chaired by

local authorities; the fact that the Conservatives had reduced
layers of local government from two to one in 1994 meant that this was not an issue as it had been in 1979.

Result

1997 Welsh devolution referendum
Choice Votes %
I agree that there should be a Welsh Assembly
Yr wyf yn cytuno y dylid cael Cynulliad i Gymru 		559,419 50.30
I do not agree that there should be a Welsh Assembly
Nid wyf yn cytuno y dylid cael Cynulliad i Gymru 		552,698 49.70
Valid votes 1,112,117 99.64
Invalid or blank votes 3,999 0.36
Total votes 1,116,116 100.00
Registered voters/turnout 2,222,533 50.22

Note: In Wales under the Welsh Language Act 1993 the Welsh language has equal status with the English language.

National referendum results (excluding invalid votes)
Agree/Cytuno
559,419 (50.3%) 		Disagree/Anghytuno
552,698 (49.7%)
▲
50%

The overall result was declared in the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama in Cardiff. The proceeding officer was Professor Eric Sunderland. The results of all 22 local authority areas were announced individually, and the result was close enough that everything in fact hung on the announcement from Carmarthenshire, which carried the Yes vote.[7] The difference between the 'agree' and 'disagree' vote was 6,721.[8][9]

Results by unitary authority

Council Area Turnout Votes Proportion of votes
Agree
Cytuno 		Disagree
Anghytuno 		Agree
Cytuno 		Disagree
Anghytuno
Anglesey 56.9% 15,649 15,095 50.9% 49.1%
Blaenau Gwent 49.3% 15,237 11,928 56.1% 43.9%
Bridgend 50.6% 27,632 23,172 54.4% 45.6%
Caerphilly 49.3% 34,830 28,841 55.7% 44.3%
Cardiff 46.9% 47,527 59,589 44.4% 55.6%
Carmarthenshire 56.4% 49,115 26,119 65.5% 34.5%
Ceredigion 56.8% 18,304 12,614 59.2% 40.8%
Conwy 51.5% 18,369 26,521 40.9% 59.1%
Denbighshire 49.7% 14,271 20,732 40.5% 59.5%
Flintshire 41.0% 17,746 28,707 38.2% 61.8%
Gwynedd 59.8% 35,425 19,859 64.1% 35.9%
Merthyr Tydfil 49.5% 12,707 9,121 58.2% 41.8%
Monmouthshire 50.5% 10,592 22,403 32.1% 67.9%
Neath Port Talbot 51.9% 36,730 18,463 66.5% 33.5%
Newport 45.9% 16,172 27,017 37.5% 62.5%
Pembrokeshire 52.6% 19,979 26,712 42.8% 57.2%
Powys 56.2% 23,038 30,966 42.7% 57.3%
Rhondda Cynon Taff
 49.9% 51,201 36,362 58.5% 41.5%
Swansea 47.1% 42,789 39,561 53.0% 47.0%
Torfaen 45.5% 15,756 15,854 49.8% 50.2%
Vale of Glamorgan 54.3% 17,776 30,613 35.5% 64.5%
Wrexham 42.4% 18,574 22,449 44.3% 55.7%

See also

References

  1. ^ "UK Election statistics 1945-2003" (PDF).
  2. ^ "- YouTube". www.youtube.com.
  3. ^ "Labour Party 1992 election manifesto". Archived from the original on 9 December 2013.
  4. ^ "Welsh Referendum". www.bbc.co.uk.
  5. ^ "Welsh Referendum". www.bbc.co.uk.
  6. ^ "Welsh Referendum". www.bbc.co.uk.
  7. ^ "Welsh Referendum". bbc.co.uk. Retrieved 18 September 2017.
  8. ^ "How Welsh devolution has evolved over two decades". 18 September 2017 – via www.bbc.co.uk.
  9. ^ "That's when I ran to the phone". 18 September 2007.
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=1997_Welsh_devolution_referendum&oldid=1297761751"