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The Welsh devolution referendum of 1997 was a pre-legislative referendum held in Wales on 18 September 1997 over whether there was support for the creation of an assembly for Wales with devolved powers. The referendum was a Labour manifesto commitment and was held in their first term after the 1997 election. Unlike the referendum in Scotland a week earlier, there was no proposal for the assembly to have tax-varying powers. This was the second referendum held in Wales over the question of devolution, the first was held in 1979 and was defeated by a large majority. The referendum resulted in a small majority in favour, which led to the passing Government of Wales Act 1998 and the formation of the National Assembly for Wales in 1999. ==Background== A referendum was held in 1979 (with a parallel referendum in Scotland) proposing the creation of a Welsh Assembly, under James Callaghan's "Lib-Lab pact" coalition government. The referendum stipulated that a Welsh Assembly would be created if supported by 50% of votes cast and 40% of the total electorate. The Scottish referendum achieved the first condition but not the second, while the Welsh referendum was defeated by almost a 4:1 majority. Indeed, although the Labour Party had committed itself to devolution in 1974 (following the advice of the Royal Commission on the Constitution) several Welsh Labour MPs (including Neil Kinnock) were very much opposed. The 1979 referendum had been such a resounding defeat that it killed off any prospects of devolution in Wales for a generation. The almost wholly anti-devolution Conservative Party won the 1979 general election (though they only won 11 out of 36 seats in Wales) and remained in power until 1997. Over this time, the Conservative government became increasingly unpopular in Wales. The Conservatives mostly appointed English-born MPs representing English constituencies to the post of Secretary of State for Wales, including William Hague and John Redwood (who famously attempted to mime the words to the Welsh national anthem at the 1993 Welsh Conservative Party conference). A commitment to the creation of a There was no inter-party Constitutional Convention in Wales to define devolution as there had been in Scotland. Labour's initial proposal to elect a Welsh Assembly using the traditional first-past-the-post system was reversed in late 1996 in favour of the Additional Member System. This change was vital in order to gain the support of Plaid Cymru and the Welsh Liberal Democrats in the event of a referendum. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Welsh devolution referendum, 1997」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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