Welsh devolution referendum, 1997

Question: Do you agree that there should be a Welsh Assembly as proposed by the Government?

Results
	Votes	Of total
Yes	559,419	7001503000000000000♠50.3%
No	552,698	7001497000000000000♠49.7%
Valid votes	1,112,117	7001996400000000000♠99.64%
Invalid or blank votes	3,999	6999360000000000000♠0.36%
Total votes	1,116,116	100.00%
Voter turnout	7001502200000000000♠50.22%
Electorate	2,222,533

Results by unitary authorities

Yes No

Referendum held: 18 September 1997, Saturation of colour reflects the strength of the vote.

The Welsh devolution referendum of 1997 was a pre-legislative referendum held in Wales on 18 September 1997 over whether there was support for the creation of an assembly for Wales with devolved powers. The referendum was a Labour manifesto commitment and was held in their first term after the 1997 election. Unlike the referendum in Scotland a week earlier, there was no proposal for the assembly to have tax-varying powers. This was the second referendum held in Wales over the question of devolution, the first was held in 1979 and was defeated by a large majority.

The referendum resulted in a small majority in favour, which led to the passing 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 "Lib-Lab pact" coalition 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 Conservative Party won the 1979 general election (though they only won 11 out of 36 seats in Wales^[1]) and remained in power until 1997. Over this time, the Conservative government became increasingly unpopular in Wales. The Conservatives mostly appointed English-born 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 Labour Party's manifesto for the 1992 general election.^[3] The Labour party shaped its policy of a Welsh Assembly under the guidance of Shadow Welsh Secretary Ron Davies and Welsh Office spokesmen Win Griffiths and Rhodri Morgan. In March 1996, Ron Davies signed an agreement with 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 in 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 as there had been in Scotland. Labour's initial proposal to elect a Welsh Assembly using the traditional first-past-the-post system was reversed in late 1996 in favour of the 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.

Campaign

The official Yes campaign, Yes for Wales, was supported by Labour, the Liberal Democrats and Plaid Cymru, though they also ran their own individual campaigns.^[4] Labour anti-devolutionary MPs (including Llew Smith, among others^[5]) were subject to a tight 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 Labour politicians Leighton Andrews, Ron Davies, Alun Michael, Rhodri Morgan, Andrew Davies, Peter Hain, Hywel Francis, Edwina Hart and Val Feld; Liberal Democrat politicians Michael German, Jenny Randerson, Kirsty Williams and Peter Black; Plaid Cymru politicians Dafydd Wigley, Cynog Dafis and Leanne Wood; and academic Russell Deacon.

The official No campaign, Just Say NO, was chaired by Nick Bourne, then the Conservatives' "Chief Spokesman in Wales". The No campaign lacked the structure and finance of the Yes campaign, and suffered from the fact that the Conservative defeat in the 1997 election meant there were no Conservative MPs (and therefore no MPs supporting the No campaign) in Wales. Additionally, the No campaign in 1997 did not have the support of 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.

A map showing the strength of the 'No' votes cast in the referendum by unitary authority.
Key:

30.1–39.9% of vote

40.1–49.9% of vote

50.1–59.9% of vote

60.1%+ of vote

Results

The referendum asked voters:

I agree that there should be a Welsh Assembly.
I do not agree that there should be a Welsh Assembly.

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 'yes' and 'no' vote was 6,721.

Agree : 559,419 (50.3%)	Disagree : 552,698 (49.7%)
▲

Turnout (%): 50.1

Results by unitary authority

Unitary authority	Yes vote (%)	No vote (%)
Anglesey	50.9%	49.1%
Blaenau Gwent	56.1%	43.9%
Bridgend	54.4%	45.6%
Caerphilly	55.7%	44.3%
Cardiff	44.4%	55.6%
Carmarthenshire	65.5%	34.5%
Ceredigion	59.2%	40.8%
Conwy	40.9%	59.1%
Denbighshire	40.5%	59.5%
Flintshire	38.2%	62.8%
Gwynedd	64.1%	35.9%
Merthyr Tydfil	58.2%	41.8%
Monmouthshire	32.1%	67.9%
Neath Port Talbot	66.5%	33.5%
Newport	37.5%	62.5%
Pembrokeshire	42.8%	57.2%
Powys	42.7%	57.3%
Rhondda Cynon Taff	58.5%	41.5%
Swansea	53.0%	47.0%
Torfaen	49.8%	50.2%
Vale of Glamorgan	35.5%	64.5%
Wrexham	44.3%	55.7%

References

External links

Elections and referendums in Wales

National Assembly elections	1999 2003 2007 2011 2016

Referendums	1979 1997 2011

See also: Elections in England (1264–1705) Great Britain (1707–1800) United Kingdom

(1996 ←) United Kingdom local elections, 1997 (→ 1998)

County council elections	Bedfordshire Buckinghamshire Cambridgeshire Cheshire Cornwall Cumbria Derbyshire Devon Dorset Durham East Sussex Essex Gloucestershire Hampshire Hertfordshire Kent Lancashire Leicestershire Lincolnshire Norfolk North Yorkshire Northamptonshire Northumberland Nottinghamshire Oxfordshire Shropshire Somerset Staffordshire Suffolk Surrey Warwickshire West Sussex Wiltshire Worcestershire

Unitary authorities	Blackburn with Darwen Blackpool Bracknell Forest Bristol Halton Herefordshire Hull Medway Nottingham Peterborough Plymouth Reading Slough Southend-on-Sea Telford and Wrekin Thurrock Torbay Warrington West Berkshire Windsor and Maidenhead Wokingham

District councils (England)	Malvern Hills

District councils (Northern Ireland)	Northern Irish District councils Antrim Ards Armagh Ballymena Ballymoney Banbridge Belfast Carrickfergus Castlereagh Coleraine Cookstown Craigavon Derry Down Dungannon Fermanagh Larne Limavady Lisburn Magherafelt Moyle Newry and Mourne Newtownabbey North Down Omagh Strabane

Sui generis	Isles of Scilly

Referendums	Scottish devolution Welsh devolution

See also: UK General election

Devolution in the United Kingdom

Devolved areas

National level	Northern Ireland Scotland Wales

Regional level (in England)	Combined authorities Directly elected mayoralties Greater London Authority

Referendums¹

English mayoral referendums
- London, 1998
- 2012
North East England
- 2004
Northern Ireland
- 1998
Scotland
- 1979
- 1997
Wales
- 1979
- 1997
- 2011

Heads of devolved governments

Devolved legislatures²

Devolved administrations³

Organisations and laws of the
legislatures and governments
of the UK and the devolved areas

Commissions (UK Parliament)	Kilbrandon Commission Holtham Commission Silk Commission McKay Commission

Commissions (devolved legislatures)	National Assembly for Wales Richard Commission Holtham Commission Scottish Parliament Calman Commission Smith Commission

Devolution acts	Greater London Authority Acts 1999 2007 Northern Ireland Acts 1998 2006 Wales Acts 1998 2006 2014 Scotland Acts 1998 2012

Select committees	Northern Ireland Affairs Scottish Affairs Welsh Affairs

Grand committees	England Northern Ireland Scottish Welsh

Departments and Territorial Offices (MOJ)	Cabinet Office - Devolution Secretariat Ministry of Justice - Devolution Directorate-General Office of the Advocate General for Scotland Northern Ireland Office Scotland Office Wales Office

Elections

Current	Agreements/Treaties Anglo-Irish Treaty Good Friday Agreement Budget Barnett formula Block grant Constitution of the United Kingdom Reserved and excepted matters West Lothian question

Proposals	Cornwall Cornish Assembly Cornish Constitutional Convention Mebyon Kernow Revived Cornish Stannary Parliament Devolved English parliament Campaign for an English Parliament Northern England Campaign for the North Yorkshire First Other parts of Southern England Wessex Regionalist Party Scotland Full fiscal autonomy

Historical	Administrations of England English Regional Assemblies, 1998-2010 Administrations of London London County Council Greater London Council Administrations of Northern Ireland 1922–72 1974 Legislatures of Northern Ireland 1922–72 1973–74 1982–86 Northern Ireland-related legislation of the UK Parliament Ireland, 1886 Ireland, 1893 Ireland, 1914 Ireland, 1920 Irish Free State, 1922 Northern Ireland, 1974 Irish Home Rule movement Prime Minister of Northern Ireland Scotland Act 1978 Scottish Office Sunningdale Agreement Wales Act 1978 Welsh Office

1. Rejected referendums are italicised. The others were fully or partially approved.
2. There is no law-making body for any regionally devolved area.
3. Administrations of regionally devolved areas are omitted.

Category

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