Labour and Devolution in Wales

Disgrifiad Cymraeg / Welsh Description

Astudiaeth o agwedd y Blaid Lafur i ddatganoli yng Nghymru o 1983 hyd 1998, gyda phennod gyflwyniadol am y galw am ysgrifennydd gwladol i Gymru yn ystod y cyfnod o 1886 hyd 1979.

Disgrifiad Saesneg / English Description

This is a study of the Labour Party's attitude to devolution in Wales from 1983 to 1998. To place the work in context, there is an introductory chapter on demands for a secretary of state and a parliament during the period 1886 to 1979.

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Cynnwys / Table of Contents

Part I Background (1886–1979) Part II Labour’s Continuing Debate (1983–1997)

Bywgraffiad yr Awdur / Author Biography

John Gilbert Evans was born in Ystalyfera in the Swansea Valley. Educated at the University of Wales in Aberystwyth and Swansea, prior to retirement he was head of educational studies at the University of Wales, Newport. He was a member of the study group set up by the Welsh Council of Labour in 1969 to prepare evidence to the Royal Commission on the Constitution, 1969–1973. At the 1970 general election, he was the Labour Party candidate in Flint West.

Adolygiad y Cyhoeddwr / Publisher Review

Given the avid interest in devolution in Wales, the appearance of this brief, analytical account is timely and opportune. The author, former head of educational studies at the University of Wales Newport, won much praise for his seminal study Devolution in Wales: Claims and Responses, 1937–1979 (2006). The present volume of 96 pages is divided into two sections and is followed by a brief note on 'The Welsh Settlement (1998)'. The first part, largely a concise summary of his previous published work, provides a compelling overview of the history of devolutionary impulses in Wales from the foundation of the epoch-making Cymru Fydd movement in 1886, the monopoly of the Liberal Party and some of its leading politicians, until the devolution referendum in 1979, with the primary focus on successive developments after the Second World War. Using a rich array of primary and secondary source materials, the author traces the successive, gradual steps towards the setting up of the embryonic Welsh Office by Harold Wilson in the autumn of 1964, when James Griffiths, the veteran Labour MP for Llanelli since 1936, was, as widely anticipated, appointed the Charter Secretary of State for Wales. Thereafter the focus moves to the intense debates on devolution which sharply divided the Labour Party and public opinion in Wales during the long 1970s, often within the context of the Crowther (later re-named the Kilbrandon) Commission on Welsh devolution. An outline of the 1979 referendum campaign and result of the poll follows. The second part of the analysis, based mainly on searches of numerous newspaper columns, looks at the changing attitudes to devolution within the Labour Party in Wales between the two key devolution referenda of 1979 and 1997, and focuses on the striking U-turn in support, sometimes grudging, for devolutionary initiatives. There are also revealing references to the position in Scotland. One main theme is a discussion of how the Labour Party dramatically embraced devolutionary concerns very quickly following the abject failure of the thrusting 'Yes' campaign in March 1979. This analysis traces with conviction the evolution of attitudes within the Labour Party's NEC, successive party conferences, leading Labour politicians (among them party leaders like John Smith and Tony Blair) and indeed within the other political parties, and assesses critically the array of factors which eventually resulted in a pro-devolution Labour general election manifesto in 1997, which gave surprisingly detailed attention to the functions of a future Welsh assembly, and then a very narrow 'Yes' vote in the 1997 referendum. Developments north of the border in Scotland are also discussed in the text and inform discussion of the debate in Wales. In a brief sequel, the main features of the Government of Wales Act 1998 are outlined and evaluated, and this section is followed by a note on the expansion of powers conferred in the Government of Wales Act, 2006. A helpful index is provided here too. The conclusion which emerges is the key significance of the Labour Party's contribution to the cause of Welsh devolution. All readers interested in the recent political history of Wales and the course of devolutionary initiatives will find this short study to be of considerable interest, and it is very likely to stimulate further reading and research into this rapidly changing field.