The next elections in Wales will elect members, not of the Welsh Assembly, but of the Senedd, the new name for our Welsh Parliament. The change of name reflects the increase in Powers the body has achieved and this article is more historical than political. I am looking at how we got ourselves a parliament in Wales, as that is a good story in itself.
The date of the next Senedd election should be the first Thursday in May, Covid-19 permitting, but may well be delayed by the virus.
Before we got our Assembly, Wales was a part of the UK and our people fully represented only in Westminster, by Members of Parliament, in London. In the 1960’s Nationalist parties in Scotland and Wales started to get MP’s elected in small numbers. The Labour Party was then split in whether to support a degree of devolution or not. Conservatives were against it.
There was little enthusiasm for the idea of a Welsh Assembly in Wales at the start of this process. A referendum back in 1979 rejected an Assembly for Wales (the vote was around Yes 20% No 80%. ),while in Scotland there was a pro devolution vote.
However, even though over 50% of Scots voted for devolution a rule had been made that the decisions should not be just on the number of people who voted, but on gaining over 40% of the total electorate, whether they had voted or not.
The result in Scotland was a “win” in that most people who voted, voted Yes, but in fact a defeat because anyone who did not vote was effectively counted as voting “No”. The actual result was Yes 51.6% No 48.4.%, but as the 51.6% of votes was only 38.4% of the voting population of Scotland it all counted as a rejection. So in March 1979 both Scotland and Wales failed to achieve devolution.
The price paid by Jim Callaghan’s government was high. The SNP had 11 MP’s in Westminster and they felt cheated. In retaliation they then supported the Conservatives in a vote of no confidence, bringing down the Labour Government, allowing Mrs Thatcher to be in power for the next decade.
The next devolution efforts were under another Labour Government, that of Tony Blair, and some 18 years later. In Scotland the desire for devolution and a Scottish Parliament had hardened and in Wales public opinion for devolution had increased but was not so strong. However, another referendum on the subject was held in 1997 and the result was positive for both Nations.
In Scotland, Scottish Labour, the SNP, the Scottish Greens and the Liberal Democrats all supported the new Scottish Parliament and the Conservatives opposed the idea. In September 1997 the result in Scotland was a resounding Yes vote of 74.29% and a no vote of 25.71%.
In Wales the majority for devolution was tiny. Tony Blair was very relieved. It is said that the Blair insiders referred to Wales as “Scotland’s ugly little sister” as they were afraid the Welsh would again reject devolution. They need not have worried. The Result was Yes 50.3% No 49.7%
The whole Assembly project was delivered by a majority of only 6,721 votes, with half of the 22 Welsh local Authorities voting “No”. The margin of victory was 0.4%.
The first Assembly elections were in 1999 and the first members took their seats in 2000. When we have the next election it looks like there will be several parties supporting independence, several supporting abolishing the Assembly advising re-unification with England, and several supporting the status quo.
The choice is up to the people of Wales.
