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Understanding devolution in Wales
Understanding devolution in Wales

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9 Section 1 summary

Congratulations on reaching the end of this first section. You’ve learned a lot about the evolving nature of devolution in Wales, notably:

  • In its first two decades of operation, devolution in Wales went through five phases as set out by David Torrance, from administrative devolution in 1999 to legislative devolution with a reserved powers model in 2018.

  • Following a failed referendum on devolution to Wales in 1979, a second vote pushed forward by the New Labour government succeeded.

  • This process proved challenging as politicians in London and Cardiff often disagreed on the best way forward.

  • The initial devolution settlement was not particularly effective and there were multiple reviews and several pieces of legislation to improve it.

  • By 2016, the settlement was more stable and the National Assembly for Wales was renamed the Welsh Parliament in 2020.

You can now move on to Section 2 [Tip: hold Ctrl and click a link to open it in a new tab. (Hide tip)] .