Why Wales Voted For A Devolved Government

The reforms of Devolution where power was transferred from Westminster to different elected bodies around the country. This makes the UK more democratic as power is no longer centralised and areas such as parts of Scotland, Wales and Ireland will not be neglected. However England itself does not have its own assembly and the fact that we cannot vote on certain things in areas of the UK, but everyone can vote in policies in England could be seen to be undemocratic. Overall this reform however has made the UK more democratic as it means areas will not be forgotten about and countries and areas within the UK can get specific things that that area may want or need more then others.

Devolution is the transfer of powers from a central body to subordinate regional bodies. In Scotland, Devolution was set up to restore legitimacy to a system of government that reflected Scottish preferences. The reason behind the demand for Scottish self-government is that Scotland had the historic status of nationhood before the Union of 1707 and within the Union, has a different set of legal, educational and religious institutions that reinforce a Scottish identity.

A legend like the United Kingdom is not simply created, it was foraged through hardships and tribulations in order to become an unstoppable force of nature. According to the Encyclopedia Britannica after many conquests by an Anglo-Saxon king, Ireland fell under English rule and formally joined Great Britain in 1800 with the Act of Union. Though Ireland later regained its independence in 1922 but two thirds of the country stayed apart of the United Kingdom. The United Kingdom who was no longer a "Kingdom" but now part of a growing monarchy has endured many throughout the years. According to FiveforThrity, “The United Kingdom is a constitutional monarchy and parliamentary democracy, with a queen and a parliament that has two houses: The House of Lords and House of Commons.” FiveforThrity also states “Supreme legislative power is vested in parliament, which sits for five years unless dissolved sooner as well as the fact that The House of Lords was stripped of most of its power in 1911, and now its main function is to revise legislation.”

In the UK there are three main regional assemblies in the country that have developed power: the Scottish Parliament, the Welsh Assembly and the Northern Ireland Assembly.

A secondary way in which parliamentary sovereignty in the UK can be seen to be moving is though the introduction of devolution which is challenging the UK parliament’s sovereignty. The UK is a unitary state, so only one body can in theory

Currently Scotland has its own parliament in Edinburgh which can deal with chosen devolved issues from Westminster. Originating mainly from the YES YES campaign in 1999 headed by the Labour Government. This means that Scotland has control over

The process of establishing devolution for Scotland began with the Scotland Act 1978, which made way for a referendum on devolution and attempted to gain more power and legislature abilities for Scotland. The rise of the SNP forced the Labour Government of James Callaghan to react. The terms of this Act stated 40% of the entire electorate had to vote “yes” for devolution and the establishment of a Scottish Assembly, this included those who did not vote which were counted as a “no” vote. The 1979 Referendum, on 1st March, saw a majority of 52% in favour of devolution, to 48% against. At first glance it appears Scotland was successful in its referendum, however only 32.9% of the electorate had joined the majority, meaning the 40% required to achieve devolution was not met. With this failure to achieve devolution, the SNP backed a Tory motion of no confidence in the Labour government which saw the 1979 election being called by just one vote. The 1979 election saw the rise of

One reform introudced after 1997 was devolution. The centrepiece of Labour’s programme of constitutional reform was undoubtedly this. Referendums had been held in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland

The dispersion of power in the UK varies greatly, each country having a different seat on the level-pegging of power over one another - in particular, policy areas, due to the various referendums, including ones already mentioned. This is called an asymmetrical devolution system.

One advantage of using referendums in the UK is that they enable the public that are over 18 to approve or disprove important constitutional changes. An example of a one being used for this purpose is the 1998 referendum which was used to determine whether Blair and the Labour Party should devolve power to Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland. Devolution in Scotland and Wales was introduced in 1998 as the majority of the public voted ‘yes’ in

The centrepiece of Labour 's programme of constitutional reform was undoubtedly devolution. This was achieved with remarkably few problems. There now seems no likelihood that the new arrangements could be reversed, even by a Conservative administration. The election on 6 May 1999 of a Parliament in Scotland, with extensive powers of primary legislation as well as tax-raising, and an Assembly in Wales, with powers of secondary legislation only, will have a profound impact on governance within the UK. In

Devolution is the transfer of power from Westminster to regional bodies, such as the Scottish Parliament and the Welsh

The EU government comes before the government of your home country and the rules pertaining to it. So if the EU votes on a rule that will negatively impact your country or the economy there of, you will be forced to carry that rule out as a member of the EU. This takes away countries independence to make their own decisions and choices. This can be proven in the quote, “The Visegrad countries’ opposition to Brussels is different from Britain’s. They don't want to leave the union, they just refuse to abide by some of its rules…(Doc E).” Because of the large size of the EU, creating rules that are fair and pertain to all the counties is hard. The rules made are unfair to some parts of Europe and that can be represented by the following quote, “To Western Europeans, it is unsettling to see a new East-West divide emerging, threatening to fracture the the European Union itself (Doc E).” This quote is saying that because of the differences across the EU in many areas, it's becoming more likely that other countries will follow brexit and leave the

It is precise that we begin by explaining the meaning of the term “Brexit”; it is a portmanteau of the words “Britain” and “Exit”, which was just one of the terms for the results of the 2016 referendum, the other one was “Bremain” (Britain and remain) which was a lot less promoted and controversial. For the 2016 referendum, 52% of the votes went for Britain leaving the European Union, in a poll with 72% of participation, a total of 33.577.342 votes, 17.410.742 for Brexit and 16.577.342 for Britain staying in the European Union (BBC World, 2016). England voted for Brexit, by 53.4% to 46.6%, as did Wales, with Leave getting 52.5% of the vote and Remain 47.5%. Scotland and Northern Ireland both backed staying in the EU. Scotland backed Remain by 62% to 38%, while 55.8% in Northern Ireland voted Remain and 44.2% Leave (Hunt and Wheeler, 2016).

The concept of devolution was first introduced in 1998 in the United Kingdom. The United Kingdom is made up of England, Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales. Devolution can be defined as the process whereby the central authority delegates part of her powers to the local or regional authority to exercise on her behalf. In this case, the UK parliament, which is the central authority, transfers some of its powers to the local authorities which are the Scottish parliament, the Northern Ireland parliament, the London Assembly and the National Assembly for Wales.