| The Devolution Bill
for Scotland and Wales was given the royal assent on 31 July 1978 and
a referendum was to be held in both countries on Saint David's Day 1979.
Shortly after this announcement the 'Wales for an Assembly' campaign was
formed under the leadership of the former Labour Member of Parliament,
Elystan Morgan. |
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The devolutionists had the official
support of the Labour Party, the T.U.C., the Liberal Party and Plaid Cymru,
although, ideally Plaid Cymru would have preferred the Assembly to have
considerabaly more power. |
| Nearly all Welsh Conservatives
were against Devolution as well as six of the Welsh Labour
Members of Parliament, notably Neil Kinnock. |
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The referendum was held on 1 March 1979
in Wales and in Scotland. In Wales, 1,119,378 people voted, which represented
58.3% of the total electorate.
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| Only 11.8% of the electorate
voted in favour of devolution and 46.5% against. The Labour government
fell soon afterwards and a General Election was held in May 1979 which
was won by the Conservative Party under the leadership of Margaret Thatcher.
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The Conservatives were in power
for 18 years, but the arguments for devolution did not disappear. Following
the Labour Party's victory in 1997 the government published a White Paper,
A Voice for Wales , which was a detailed description of the Party's proposals
for devolution. |
| On 18 September 1997 a referendum
on the proposals was held. Only 50.3% of the electorate voted, with 552,698
voting against devolution and 559,419 in favour, a majority of 6,721. |
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The first Assembly Elections were held on 6
May 1999 and on the 26 May the National Assembly for Wales was officially
opened in Cardiff Bay. |
| 1979 Referendum |
|
1997 Referendum |
|
| Percentage who voted |
58.8% |
Percentage who voted |
50.3% |
| Number who voted in favour |
243,048 |
Number who voted in favour |
559,419 |
| Number who voted against |
956,330 |
Number who voted against |
552,698 |
| Majority against |
59.4% |
Majority in favour |
0.6% |
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