National Assembly for Wales

The National Assembly for Wales (Welsh: Cynulliad Cenedlaethol Cymru) is a devolved assembly with power to make legislation in Wales. The Assembly comprises 60 members, who are known as Assembly Members, or AMs (Welsh: Aelod y Cynulliad / Aelod Seneddol). Members are elected for four year terms under an additional members system, where forty AMs represent geographical constituencies elected by the plurality system, and twenty AMs from five electoral regions using the d'Hondt method of proportional representation.

Following a referendum in 1997, the Assembly was created by the Government of Wales Act 1998. Most of the powers of the Welsh Office and Secretary of State for Wales were transferred to the Assembly. When first created, the Assembly had no powers to initiate primary legislation. However, following the passing of the Government of Wales Act 2006, the Assembly now has powers to legislate in some areas through Assembly Measures, though still subject to the veto of the Secretary of State or the Parliament of the United Kingdom.

The establishment of the Welsh Office in 1964 effectively created the basis for the territorial governance of Wales.^[1] The Royal Commission on the Constitution (the Kilbrandon Commission) was set up in 1969 by Harold Wilson's Labour Government to investigate the possibility of devolution for Scotland and Wales.^[2] Its recommendations formed the basis of the 1974 White Paper Democracy and Devolution: proposals for Scotland and Wales,^[2] which proposed the creation of a Welsh Assembly. However, voters rejected the proposals by a majority of four to one in a referendum held in 1979.^[2][3]

After the 1997 general election, the new Labour Government argued that an Assembly would be more democratically accountable than the Welsh Office. For eleven years prior to 1997 Wales had been represented in the UK cabinet by a Secretary of State who did not represent a Welsh constituency at Westminster.^[4] A second referendum was held on 18 September 1997 in which voters approved the creation of the National Assembly for Wales by a majority of just 6,712 votes.^[5]

The following year the Government of Wales Act was passed by Parliament, establishing the Assembly.

In July 2002, the Welsh Assembly Government established an independent commission, with Lord Richard (former leader of the House of Lords) as chair, to review the powers and electoral arrangements of the National Assembly in order to ensure that it is able to operate in the best interests of the people of Wales.^[6] The Richard Commission reported in March 2004. It recommended that the National Assembly should have powers to legislate in certain areas, whilst others would remain the preserve of Westminster.^[6] It also recommended changing the electoral system to the single transferable vote (STV) which would produce greater proportionality.^[6]

In response the UK Government, in its Better Governance for Wales White Paper, published on 15 June 2005, proposed a more permissive law-making system for the Welsh Assembly based on the use of Parliamentary Orders in Council.^[7][8] In so doing, the Government rejected many of the cross party Richard Commission's recommendations. This has attracted criticism from opposition parties and others.

Recent polls suggest that a majority of the Welsh support full legislative powers.^[9] over 80% of people in Wales want a new parliament according to a new survey published in 2008 and Assembly members are willing to extend further powers to Cardiff Bay from Westminster.