Evans, Adam  ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4150-1517
2026.
From new dawn to new dispensation: the rapid unravelling of the Government of Wales Act 1998, the Richard Commission and the road to the Government of Wales Act 2006.
Contemporary British History
40
(2)
, pp. 286-314.
10.1080/13619462.2026.2657349
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Abstract
Devolution to Scotland and Wales was a central plank of the New Labour government’s constitutional reform agenda. Yet despite Welsh devolution only being narrowly won at the 1997 referendum by the small margin of just 6,721 votes, almost immediately there would be calls to rethink and revise the devolution dispensation given to Wales and after only a year of the Assembly’s existence a Labour-Liberal Democrat ‘partnership agreement’ coalition would commit to establishing an independent commission to examine the Assembly’s powers and electoral system. Drawing on an extensive range of primary and secondary source material, this article explores why after only a few years of devolution being in existence, such a Commission was created and why the UK Government and the Labour Party’s leadership in Wales responded to the Commission in the way that they did. It will also explore why what ultimately emerged from the Labour party’s internal processes, and from the UK and Welsh government’s deliberations, the Government of Wales Act 2006 would bear only a passing resemblance to the Commission’s proposals. In doing so, this paper deepens our understanding of the story of constitution making in Wales and the story of Welsh devolution since 1997.
| Item Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Date Type: | Publication |
| Status: | Published |
| Schools: | Schools > Cardiff Law & Politics |
| Publisher: | Taylor and Francis Group |
| ISSN: | 1361-9462 |
| Date of First Compliant Deposit: | 14 April 2026 |
| Date of Acceptance: | 2 April 2026 |
| Last Modified: | 22 May 2026 08:52 |
| URI: | https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/186388 |
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