Welsh devolution referendum, 1997 Totally Explained

Everything about Welsh Devolution Referendum 1997 totally explained

The Welsh referendum of 1997 was a pre-legislative referendum held in Wales only over whether there was support for the creation of an assembly for Wales. Unlike the referendum in Scotland, there was no proposal for the assembly to have tax varying powers. The referendum was a manifesto commitment of the Labour Party and was held in their first term after the United Kingdom general election, 1997. This was the second referendum held in Wales over the question of devolution, the first being the Wales referendum, 1979.
One of the factors that made the referendum controversial was that Wales has a much greater immigrant and transient population than Scotland. A previous referendum on devolution, held in 1979, had resulted in a majority against, whereas in Scotland the vote had been in favour. It was generally believed that the Labour government scheduled the referendum as it did because it foresaw the embarrassment of a defeat, and therefore arranged for the Scotland referendum to be held slightly earlier, in the hope that the anticipated result would influence the Welsh result.

Party support

Welsh Labour, Plaid Cymru and the Liberal Democrats campaigned for the 'Yes' vote. The Conservative party was the only major party to support the 'No' vote.

Results

The referendum was held on September 18, 1997, a week after the referendum in Scotland. In the end, the result was extremely close, and everything hung on voting figures for the last unitary authority to be announced, which carried the "Yes" vote.
The electorate were asked to indicate whether:
'1. I agree that there should be a Welsh Assembly; or
2. I don't agree that there should be a Welsh Assembly.'

Option 1 votes	Option 1 votes (%)	Option 2 votes	Option 2 (%)	Turnout (%)
559,419	50.3	552,698	49.7	50.1

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	52.0%	47.0%
Torfaen	49.8%	50.2%
Vale of Glamorgan	35.5%	64.5%
Wrexham	44.3%	55.7%

Government response

In response to the majority voting for Yes, the government passed the Government of Wales Act 1998, creating the Welsh Assembly.

Further Information

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