This article seeks to place the 1997 referendum on the Labour government's plans to establish an elected Welsh Assembly into the context of the debate on devolution as it has developed in Wales since 1979, when broadly similar proposals were overwhelmingly rejected by the Welsh electorate. The authors argue that given the belated decision to hold the referendum, the particular difficulties created by the Welsh political landscape, and the fact that there was no real attempt to develop a broad-based consensus behind the proposals before the 1997 general election, the fact that the proposals were finally approved -albeit by the narrowest of margins - represents a substantial achievement for the pro-devolutionists.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
BrandJ.MitchellJ. (1997), ‘Home Rule in Scotland: The Politics and Bases of a Movement’, in BradburyJ.MawsonJ. (eds), British Regionalism and Devolution: The Challenges of State Reform and European Integration. London: Regional Studies Association and Jessica Kingsley Publishers.
2.
ChristiansenT. (1998), ‘Plaid Cymru. dilemmas and ambiguities of Welsh regional nationalism’, in de WinterL.TursanH. (eds), Regionalist Parties in Western Europe. London: Routledge.
3.
CohenJ.AratoA. (1992), Civil Society in Political Theory. Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press.
4.
EdwardsO. D. (ed) (1989), A Claim of Right for Scotland. Edinburgh: Polygon.
5.
FoulkesD.JonesJ. B.WilfordR.A. (eds) (1983), The Welsh Veto - The Wales Act 1978 and the Referendum. Cardiff: University of Wales Press.
6.
HarrisR, (1984), The Making of Neil Kinnock. London: Faber and Faber.
7.
Institute of Welsh Affairs (1996), The Road to the Referendum: Requirements for an informed and fair debate. Cardiff.
8.
JonesB. (1997), ‘Welsh Politics and Changing British and European Contexts’, in BradburyJ.MawsonJ. (ed), British Regionalism and Devolution: The Challenges of State Reform and European Integration. London: Regional Studies Association and Jessica Kingsley Publishers.
9.
JonesP. (1997), ‘A Start to a New Song: The 1997 Referendum Campaign’. Scottish Affairs21.
10.
KellasJ. (1992), ‘The Scottish Constitutional Convention’, in PatersonL.McCroneD. (eds), Scottish Government Yearbook 1992. Edinburgh: Unit for the Study of Government in Scotland.
11.
LabourParty (1986), Local Government Reform in England and Wales. Labour Party Consultative Paper.
PrescottJ.PendryT. (1982), Alternative Regional Strategy.
16.
ThomasA. (1996), ‘The Moment of Truth: Labour's Welsh Assembly Proposals in Practice’. Regional Studies30 (7).
17.
Wales Labour Party. (1995), Shaping the Vision - A Report on the Powers and Structure of the Welsh Assembly. Cardiff: Wales Labour Party.
18.
Wales Labour Party. (1996), Preparing for a New Wales - A Report on the Structure and Workings of the Welsh Assembly. Cardiff: Wales Labour Party.
19.
WigleyD. (1993), Dal AtiCaernarfon: Gwasg Gwynedd.
20.
WilliamsColin H. (1997), ‘Welsh Language Planning: Holistic Perspectives’ in Strubell i TruetaM. (ed.), Actes del Congrés Europeu Sobre Planificacio Lingüistica / Proceedings of the European Conference on Language Planning. Barcelona: Generalitat de Catalunya.
21.
WrightK. (1997), The People Say Yes: The Making of Scotland's Parliament. Glendareul, Argyll: Argyll Publishing.
22.
JonesR. WynLewisB. (1998), ‘The Wales Labour Party and Welsh Civil Society: Aspects of the Constitutional Debate in Wales’, Paper presented to PSA Annual Conference, University of Keele, Unpublished. JonesR. WynTrystanD. (1998), ‘How we voted on Wales’ future’, Agenda: The Journal of the Institute of Welsh Affairs, (Summer).
