View source for 1979 Welsh devolution referendum

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{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}
{{Infobox referendum
| name        = 1979 Welsh devolution referendum
| country = Wales
| next_year = 1997
| next_referendum = 1997 Welsh devolution referendum
| title       = Do you want the Provisions of the Wales Act 1978 to be put into effect?
| location = {{flagicon|Wales}} [[Wales]]
| date = {{start date|1979|03|01|df=y}}
| yes         = 243048
| no          = 956330
| total       = 1202687
| electorate  = 2038048
| map         = Welsh devolution referendum, 1979.svg
| mapdivision = [[Preserved counties of Wales|county]]
}}
{{UK Referendums}}
The '''1979 Welsh devolution referendum''' was a post-legislative [[referendum]] held on 1 March 1979 ([[Saint David's Day]]) to decide whether there was sufficient support for a [[Welsh Assembly (Wales Act 1978)|Welsh Assembly]] among the Welsh electorate. The referendum was held under the terms of the [[Wales Act 1978]] drawn up to implement proposals made by the [[Kilbrandon Report]] published in 1973.

The plans were defeated by a majority of 4:1 (20.3% for and 79.7% against) with only 12% of the Welsh electorate voting in favour of establishing an assembly. A [[1997 Welsh devolution referendum|second referendum]] to create a devolved assembly for Wales was held in 1997, which led to the enactment of the [[Government of Wales Act 1998]] and the creation of the [[National Assembly for Wales]] in 1999.

==Background==
Both the [[Scotland Act 1978|Scotland Act]] and the [[Wales Act 1978|Wales Act]] contained a requirement that at least 40% of all voters back the plan. It had been passed as an amendment by [[Islington South and Finsbury (UK Parliament constituency)|Islington South]] [[Member of Parliament (United Kingdom)|MP]] [[George Cunningham (British politician)|George Cunningham]] with the backing of [[Bedwellty (UK Parliament constituency)|Bedwellty]] MP [[Neil Kinnock]].

Kinnock, the future leader of the Labour Party, called himself a "unionist". His stated view was that "between the mid-sixteenth century and the mid-eighteenth century Wales had practically no history at all, and even before that it was the history of rural brigands who have been ennobled by being called princes".<ref>{{cite web |url=https://policymogul.com/stakeholders/9862/the-rt-hon-lord-kinnock |title=Neil Kinnock |publisher=PolicyMogul |access-date=20 December 2022 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://countrysquire.co.uk/2020/09/15/wales-a-country-divided-part-i/ |title=Wales – A Country Divided Part I |last=Stead |first=Marcus |date=15 September 2020 |work=Country Squire |access-date=20 December 2022}}</ref> He was one of six south Wales Labour MPs who opposed their own Government's plans, along with [[Leo Abse]] ([[Pontypool (UK Parliament constituency)|Pontypool]]), [[Donald Anderson, Baron Anderson of Swansea|Donald Anderson]] ([[Swansea East (UK Parliament constituency)|Swansea East]]), [[Ioan Evans (politician)|Ioan Evans]] ([[Aberdare (UK Parliament constituency)|Aberdare]]), [[Alfred Evans (politician)|Fred Evans]] ([[Caerphilly (UK Parliament constituency)|Caerphilly]]), and [[Ifor Davies]] ([[Gower (UK Parliament constituency)|Gower]]).

The government of [[James Callaghan]] did not have an overall majority in the [[House of Commons of the United Kingdom|House of Commons]], and was therefore vulnerable to opposition from within its own ranks. The Labour party was split on [[home rule]] for Wales with a vocal minority opposed. They considered devolution as a danger to the unity of the UK and a concession to [[Welsh nationalism]] in the wake of [[Lists of United Kingdom by-elections|by-election]] victories by [[Plaid Cymru]].

The Labour Party committed itself to devolution after coming to power in the [[February 1974 United Kingdom general election|February 1974 General Election]]. It followed the findings of a [[Royal Commission on the Constitution (United Kingdom)|Royal Commission on the Constitution]] under [[Lord Kilbrandon]]. Set up in 1969 in the wake of pressure to address growing support for [[Sovereignty|independence]] in [[Scottish independence|Scotland]] and [[Welsh independence|Wales]] it delivered a split report in 1973. The Royal Commission recommended legislative and executive [[devolution]] to Scotland and Wales, with a minority supporting advisory [[Regions of England|Regional Councils]] for [[England]]. This plan was rejected as too bureaucratic and ill-advised in economic terms. New plans were brought forward by [[Harold Wilson]]'s government in 1975 and 1976 which confined devolution to Scotland and Wales.

The [[Scotland and Wales Bill]] had a difficult passage through [[Parliament of the United Kingdom|Parliament]] and the government, lacking a majority to pass the plan, withdrew the legislation and introduced separate Bills for [[Scotland Act, 1978|Scotland]] and [[Wales Act 1978|Wales]]. Hostile Labour MPs from the [[north of England]], Wales and Scotland combined to insist that Assemblies could only be passed if directly endorsed by voters in a post-legislative referendum.

In 1978, [[John Morris, Baron Morris of Aberavon]] was under the impression that James Callaghan would call a general election in the autumn, but called it off. On 1 March, [[Saint David's Day]], the devolution referendum was held but came at the end of the [[Winter of Discontent]]. Factors such as "tribalism" divisions within Wales and impressions that a Welsh Assembly would be dominated by people of one particular region could have potentially caused the proposal to be rejected.

==Result==
{{Referendum
| title          = 
| option1        = Yes / Ydw
| yes            = 243,048
| yespct         = 20.26
| option2        = No / Nac Ydw
| no             = 956,330
| nopct          = 79.74
| valid          = 1,199,378
| validpct       = 99.72
| invalid        = 3,309
| invalidpct     = 0.28
| total          = 1,202,687
| turnoutpct     = 58.8
| turnoutneeded  = 
| electorate     = 2,038,048
| source         = [https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/special/politics97/devolution/wales/briefing/79referendums.shtml BBC]
}}

{{Referendum bar
| title = National referendum

| text1       = Yes/''Ydw''
| vote1       = 243,048
| background1 = #6c0
| textcolor1  = #000

| text2       = No/''Nac Ydw''
| vote2       = 956,330
| background2 = #f39
| textcolor2  = #000
}}

===By Counting area===
{| class="wikitable sortable"
|-
! rowspan=2 | Council Area
! rowspan=2 | Turnout
! colspan=2 | Votes
! colspan=2 | Proportion of votes
|-
! Yes 
! No
! Yes
! No
|-
|- bgcolor=pink
|align=left|[[Clwyd]]
|51.1%
|31,384
|'''114,119'''
|21.6%
|'''78.4%'''
|- bgcolor=pink
|align=left|[[Dyfed]]
|64.6%
|44,849
|'''114,947'''
|28.1%
|'''71.9%'''
|- bgcolor=pink
|align=left|[[Gwent (county)|Gwent]]
|55.3%
|21,369
|'''155,389'''
|12.1%
|'''87.9%'''
|- bgcolor=pink
|align=left|[[Gwynedd]]
|63.4%
|37,363
|'''71,157'''
|34.4%
|'''65.6%'''
|- bgcolor=pink
|align=left|[[Mid Glamorgan|Glamorgan (Mid)]]
|58.6%
|46,747
|'''184,196'''
|20.2%
|'''79.8%'''
|- bgcolor=pink
|align=left|[[South Glamorgan|Glamorgan (South)]]
|58.1%
|21,830
|'''144,186'''
|13.1%
|'''86.9%'''
|- bgcolor=pink
|align=left|[[West Glamorgan|Glamorgan (West)]]
|57.5%
|29,663
|'''128,834'''
|18.5%
|'''81.5%'''
|- bgcolor=pink
|align=left|[[Powys]]
|66.0%
|9,843
|'''43,502'''
|18.7%
|'''81.3%'''
|- bgcolor=pink
|}

==Aftermath==
The referendums in Scotland and Wales coincided with a period of unpopularity for the Government during the period known as the [[Winter of Discontent]] in addition to "tribalism" divisions within Wales and impressions that the National Assembly for Wales would be dominated by people of one particular region. According to John Morris, people in southern Wales were persuaded by the No campaign that the Assembly would be dominated by "bigoted Welsh-speakers from the north and the west" whilst in northern Wales, people had been convinced the Assembly would be a dominated Glamorgan County Council "Taffia". These factors led to a failed devolution referendum.<ref name="auto">{{Cite web |last=WalesOnline |date=2011-10-02 |title=Lord Morris of Aberavon lifts the lid on the disastrous 1979 devolution referendum |url=http://www.walesonline.co.uk/lifestyle/showbiz/lord-morris-aberavon-lifts-lid-1803341 |access-date=2022-12-09 |website=WalesOnline |language=en}}</ref>

Proposals for a more powerful [[Scottish Assembly|Assembly]] in [[Scotland]] attracted the support of a majority of those who voted (1,230,937 for, 1,153,502 against) (see [[1979 Scottish devolution referendum]]), but it amounted to just 32.5% of the total electorate, lower than the 40% threshold required.

The results sealed the fate of the [[Minority government|minority]] Labour government, and as a direct result of the defeat of the referendums in Wales and Scotland the [[Scottish National Party]] (SNP) withdrew its support for the government, though Plaid Cymru supported the government in exchange for political concessions.

In the House of Commons on 28 March 1979, the Labour government was defeated on a [[1979 vote of no confidence in the Callaghan ministry|motion of no confidence]] by one vote, only the second time in the 20th century that a government was brought down in this way. Labour's defeat in the [[1979 United Kingdom general election|1979 General Election]] to [[Margaret Thatcher]]'s [[Conservative Party (UK)|Conservative Party]] precipitated a civil war within its own ranks, and the party was to be out of office for eighteen years.

== See also ==
* [[Welsh Assembly (Wales Act 1978)]]
* [[Welsh devolution]]

== Further reading ==

* [https://archives.library.wales/index.php/wales-for-assembly-campaign-1979-papers-2 Wales for the Assembly Campaign (1979) Papers] at the National Library of Wales
* [https://archives.library.wales/index.php/no-assembly-campaign-papers-2 "No Assembly" Campaign Papers] at the National Library of Wales
* [https://archives.library.wales/index.php/aberystwyth-no-assembly-campaign-1979-archive-2 Aberystwyth 'No Assembly' Campaign (1979) Archive] at the National Library of Wales

==References==
{{Reflist}}{{Welsh devolution}}{{Welsh elections}}
{{United Kingdom local elections, 1979}}
{{James Callaghan}}
{{Opinion polling for Senedd Cymru elections}}

[[Category:Referendums in Wales|Devolution referendum, 1979]]
[[Category:1979 referendums|Welsh devolution referendum]]
[[Category:1979 in Wales|Devolution referendum]]
[[Category:Welsh devolution]]
[[Category:Welsh nationalism]]
[[Category:Autonomy referendums]]
[[Category:March 1979 in the United Kingdom|Welsh devolution referendum]]