‘There will be no shortage of Cabinet ministers taking part in the Scottish referendum campaign. The same is not true in Wales’: New Labour, old struggles, and the advent of Welsh devolution

Evans, Adam ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4150-1517 2023. ‘There will be no shortage of Cabinet ministers taking part in the Scottish referendum campaign. The same is not true in Wales’: New Labour, old struggles, and the advent of Welsh devolution. Parliamentary History 42 (2) , pp. 255-273. 10.1111/1750-0206.12689

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Abstract

Devolution to Scotland and Wales was a central pillar of the legislative agenda of the Labour government elected in 1997, yet despite the constitutional significance of this programme it was undertaken without particular enthusiasm by the then prime minister, Tony Blair. Nowhere was this blend of significant change, yet pervasive lack of passion (or interest) more apparent than devolution to Wales. Drawing upon recently released archival documents, this article will explore the New Labour government's approach to devolution in Wales. These papers provide fresh evidence of the second order nature, and treatment, of Welsh devolution compared to the attention provided to Scottish devolution, as well as of the narcissism of small details which pervaded Whitehall's discussions of Welsh devolution (with considerable energy, for example, dedicated to questions about the titles which leading figures in the Assembly would be given). These papers also bear testament to the struggles which Ron Davies, the then secretary of state for Wales, faced in securing even a minor scheme of devolution and the tensions he experienced with the centre of government.

Item Type:	Article
Date Type:	Published Online
Status:	Published
Schools:	Cardiff Law & Politics Department of Politics and International Relations (POLIR) Wales Governance Centre (WGCES)
Additional Information:	License information from Publisher: LICENSE 1: URL: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Publisher:	Wiley
ISSN:	0264-2824
Date of First Compliant Deposit:	8 June 2023
Date of Acceptance:	7 April 2023
Last Modified:	09 Jun 2023 13:26
URI:	https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/160242

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