Home rule movement Disestablishment of the Anglican church The
Sunday Closing (Wales) Act 1881 was the first legislation to acknowledge that Wales had a separate politico-legal character from the rest of the English state. |257x257px
David Lloyd George, MP for Caernarfon at the time, was devoted to Welsh devolution early in his career, starting with the
Church in Wales. He said in 1890; "I am deeply impressed with the fact that Wales has wants and inspirations of her own which have too long been ignored, but which must no longer be neglected. First and foremost amongst these stands the cause of religious liberty and equality in Wales. If returned to Parliament by you, it shall be my earnest endeavour to labour for the triumph of this great cause. I believe in a liberal extension of the principle of decentralisation." In 1895, in a Church in Wales Bill which was ultimately unsuccessful, Lloyd George added an amendment in a discreet attempt at forming a sort of Welsh home rule, a national council for appointment of the Welsh Church commissioners. The
Welsh Church Act 1914 was passed giving the Church in Wales the freedom to govern its own affairs. After being suspended for the duration of the First World War, the Act came into effect from 1920.
Home rule In response to the Irish demand for "home rule", Liberal prime minister of the UK, William Gladstone proposed two bills on home rule for Ireland in 1886 and 1893, which both failed. Although the idea of "home rule all round" had been around since the 1830s the idea became more popular in 1910 during the constitutional conference and on the brink of an Irish war during 1913–14. set up the first Cymru Fydd branch on Welsh soil in Barry in 1891. Political movements supporting Welsh self-rule began in the late nineteenth century alongside a rise in
Welsh nationalism. In the same year as the first bill for Ireland was proposed, the
Cymru Fydd (Wales To Be/Wales Will Be) movement was founded to further the home rule cause for Wales. Lloyd George was one of the main leaders of Cymru Fydd which was an organisation created with the aim of establishing a
Welsh Government and a "stronger Welsh identity". As such Lloyd George was seen as a radical figure in British politics and was associated with the reawakening of
Welsh nationalism and identity. Historian Emyr Price has referred to him as "the first architect of Welsh devolution and its most famous advocate’" as well as "the pioneering advocate of a powerful parliament for the Welsh people". The first Cymru Fydd societies were set up in Liverpool and London in 1887 and in the winter of 1886–7, the North and South Wales liberal federations were founded. Lloyd George was also particularly active in attempting to set up a separate Welsh National Party which was based on
Charles Stewart Parnell's
Irish Parliamentary Party and also worked to unite the North and South Wales Liberal Federations with Cymru Fydd to form a Welsh National Liberal Federation. The Cymru Fydd movement collapsed in 1896 amid personal rivalries and rifts between Liberal representatives such as
David Alfred Thomas. In 1898 however,
David Lloyd George managed to form the Welsh National Liberal Council, a loose umbrella organisation covering the two federations. Support for
home rule for Wales and Scotland amongst most political parties was strongest in 1918 following the independence of other European countries after the First World War, and the
Easter Rising in Ireland, wrote Dr Davies. Although Cymru Fydd had collapsed, home rule was still on the agenda, with liberal Joseph Chamberlain proposing "
Home Rule All Round" for all nations of the United Kingdom, in part to meet Irish demands but maintain the superiority of the imperial parliament of Westminster. This idea which eventually fell out of favour after "southern Ireland" left the UK and became a dominion in 1921 and the Irish free state was established in 1922.
Welsh institutions form The late 19th century saw the formation of a number of national institutions; a national and annual cultural event, the
National Eisteddfod of Wales in 1861, the
Football Association of Wales in 1876, the
Welsh Rugby Union in 1881 and the
University of Wales in 1893. In 1896,
Education in Wales began to become distinct with the formation of the Central Welsh Board which inspected grammar schools in Wales and The
Welsh Intermediate Education Act 1889 was brought about to "make further provision for the intermediate and technical education of the inhabitants of Wales and the county of Monmouth.", making the board responsible for inspection of secondary schools. In 1907, the Welsh department of the
Board of Education was formed and in the same year, a Welsh Inspectorate was established for inspection of primary and secondary schools in Wales. the
Welsh Guards in 1915 and the Welsh Board of Health in 1919. The
Church in Wales came into existence in 1920 following the disestablishment of the
Church of England via the
Welsh Church Act 1914. , first president of
Plaid Cymru. There had been discussions about the need for a "Welsh party" since the 19th century. With the generation or so before 1922 there "had been a marked growth in the constitutional recognition of the Welsh nation", wrote historian
Dr John Davies. By 1924 there were people in Wales "eager to make their nationality the focus of Welsh politics". In 1925 Plaid Genedlaethol Cymru ("the National Party of Wales") was founded; it was renamed
Plaid Cymru – The Party of Wales in 1945. The party's principles defined in 1970 were (1) self government for Wales, (2) to safeguard the culture, traditions, language and economic position of Wales and (3) to secure membership for a self-governing Welsh state in the United Nations. Early members of the Independent Labour Party attempted to establish a South Wales Federation towards the end of the 19th century but the South Wales Regional Council of Labour was not established until 1937. The UK Labour government elected in 1945 was strongly centrist, but in the same year, there were 15 UK Government departments established in Wales. By 1947, a unified Welsh Regional Council of Labour became responsible for all Wales. The proposal to set up a Council for Wales and Monmouthshire was announced in the House of Commons on 24 November 1948. Its inaugural meeting was in May 1949, and its first business meeting the following month. Its terms of reference were: • to meet from time to time and at least quarterly for the interchange of views and information on development and trends in the economic and cultural fields in Wales and Monmouthshire; and • to ensure the government is adequately informed of the impact of government activities on the general life of the people of Wales and Monmouthshire. The Council for Wales and Monmouthshire had 27 appointed members. Of these, 12 were nominated by Welsh local authorities; there were also nominees from the
Joint Education Committee, the University of Wales, the
National Eisteddfod Council, the
Welsh Tourist and Holidays Board, and from both management and union sides of Welsh industry and agriculture. The chairman was
Huw T. Edwards, a trade union leader. The Council met in private, a further source of controversy. It set up various panels and committees to investigate issues affecting Wales, including a Welsh Language Panel to study and report upon the present situation of the language; a Government Administration Panel; an Industrial Panel; a Rural Development Panel; a Transport Panel; and a Tourist Industry Panel. John Davies adds that the representatives of Wales were powerless under the political structure of the time, a core message of Plaid Cymru. The
Epynt clearance in 1940 has also been described as a "significant - but often overlooked - chapter in the history of Wales". Those in favour of a Welsh parliament paraded in Machynlleth (the place of
Owain Glyndŵr's last Senedd) on 1 October 1949. Speakers and entertainment were also at the event. From 1950 to 1956, Parliament for Wales campaign brought devolution back onto the political agenda. A cross-party campaign was led by Lady
Megan Lloyd George, daughter of former prime minister and campaigner for Welsh devolution, David Lloyd George, who had died in 1945. The Campaign for a Welsh parliament (
Ymgyrch Senedd i Gymru) was formally launched on 1 July 1950, at a rally in Llandrindod. This event lead to the creation of a petition of 240,652 names calling for the establishment of a Welsh parliament, which was presented to the
House of Commons by Megan Lloyd George in 1956.
Official flag and capital city The first official flag of Wales was created in 1953 for the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II. This "augmented" flag including the Royal badge of Wales was criticised in 1958 by "
Gorsedd y Beirdd", a national Welsh group comprising Welsh literary figures and Welsh people of note. In 1959, likely in response to criticism, the Welsh flag was changed to a red Welsh dragon on a green and white background that remains the current flag of Wales today. On 21 December 1955, the Lord Mayor of Cardiff announced to a crowd that
Cardiff was now the official capital of Wales following a vote the previous day by Welsh local authority members. Cardiff won the vote with 136 votes and Caernarfon came in second place with 11 votes. A campaign for Cardiff to become the capital city had been ongoing for 30 years prior to the vote. Historian James Cowan outlined some reasons why Cardiff was chosen which included; being the largest city in Wales with a population of 243,632, buildings in Cathays park such as City Hall and the National Museum of Wales among other reasons. Dr Martin Johnes, lecturer at Swansea University suggested that following the formation of the National Assembly for Wales in 1999, Cardiff became "a capital in a meaningful way, as the home of the Welsh government, whereas before, its capital status was irrelevant, it was just symbolic".
First Plaid Cymru MP in 1951. The leader of
Plaid Cymru,
Gwynfor Evans won the party's first-ever seat in Westminster in Carmarthen in 1966, which "helped change the course of a nation" according to Dr Martin Johnes of Swansea University. This, paired with the SNP's Winnie Ewing's winning a seat in Hamilton, Scotland in 1967 may have contributed to pressure on Labour prime minister Harold Wilson to form the
Kilbrandon Commission. This event may have also contributed to the passing of the
Welsh Language Act 1967. The legislation permitted the use of Welsh including in courts of law. The act was in part based upon the Hughes Parry Report from 1965. While the
Welsh Courts Act in 1942 had previously allowed limited use of Welsh if defendants or plaintiffs had limited knowledge of English, the 1967 act was far more robust. While the act itself was quite limited, it had large symbolic importance. On
St David's Day (March 1),
1979 Welsh devolution referendum was held on a
Welsh Assembly but came at the end of the
Winter of Discontent in addition to "tribalism" divisions within Wales. According to
John Morris, people in southern Wales were persuaded that the Assembly would be dominated by "bigoted Welsh-speakers from the north and the west" whilst in the northern Wales, people were persuaded that the Assembly would be dominated by Glamorgan County Council “Taffia”.
Richard Wyn Jones also suggests that suspicions of a secret elite of a "Taffia" or "crachach" may have affected the referendum results,“There was a perception amongst anti-devolutionists that devolution was some sort of plot by the establishment, by the crachach. Their [the anti-devolutionists’] idea that they were standing up for ‘the people’ was reinforced by 1979.” Welsh voters voted against forming an Assembly, with 79.7% voting against and 20.3% who voting Yes. Meanwhile, Scotland had narrowly voted in favour of a
Scottish parliament with 51.6% in favour. In the 1980s, economic restructuring and market reforms by
Margaret Thatcher are described as having brought social dislocation to parts of Wales, which was formerly described as having "the largest public sector west of the
Iron Curtain". A succession of non-Welsh
Conservative Secretaries of State after 1987 was portrayed by opponents as 'colonial' and indicative of a '
democratic deficit'.
Devolved legislature (1998–present) , Cardiff Bay (formerly National Assembly for Wales). The
Government of Wales Act 1998 granted the formation of the National Assembly and granted it a significant number of new powers which included most of the powers previously held by the
Secretary of State for Wales and at least 20 national institutions including the
Education and Learning Wales,
Environment Agency Wales and the
Welsh Language Board. The
National Assembly for Wales was formed in 1999 and the UK Parliament reserved the right to set limits on its powers. In March 2011,
a referendum was held on whether full primary law-making powers should be given to the National Assembly in the twenty subject areas where it held jurisdiction. The referendum concluded with 63.5% of voters supporting the transfer of full primary law-making powers to the Assembly.
Official country and language status In 2011, the International Standards Organisation officially changed the status of Wales to country after the term "principality" was used in error. This came about following lobbying from Plaid Cymru AM (Assembly Member)
Leanne Wood. Legally Wales had ceased to be a principality since the period that the Statue of Rhuddlan was implemented from 1284 to 1542. The governments of the United Kingdom and of Wales almost invariably define Wales as a country. VisitWales.com states that "Wales is not a Principality. Although we are joined with England by land, and we are part of Great Britain, Wales is a country in its own right." The
Welsh Language (Wales) Measure 2011 modernised the 1993 Welsh Language Act and gave Welsh an official status in Wales for the first time, a major landmark for the language. Welsh is the only official
de jure language of any country in the UK. The Measure was also responsible for creating the post of
Welsh Language Commissioner, replacing the Welsh Language Board. Following the referendum in 2011, the Official Languages Act became the first Welsh law to be created in 600 years, according to the First Minister at the time,
Carwyn Jones. This law was passed by Welsh AMs (assembly members) only and made Welsh an official language of the National Assembly.
Further powers The UK Government also formed the
Commission on Devolution in Wales (the Silk Commission). The commission published part 1 of its report in 2012, recommending new financial powers for Wales including borrowing and taxation, which came into force in the
Wales Act 2014. The Assembly was also given the power to decide its own name and voting system of members. The Act for the first time in Wales allowed 16 and 17-year-olds the right to vote, beginning with the
2021 Senedd election. Plaid Cymru proposed two bills to the UK parliament in the 2021-22 parliamentary session which ultimately did not gain royal assent. A
Crown Estate (Devolution to Wales) Bill - A bill to devolve the Crown Estate's management and assets in Wales to the Welsh Government was sponsored by
Liz Saville Roberts.
Shared Prosperity Fund (Wales) Bill - A bill which would require the Secretary of State to report to Parliament on the merits of devolving management and administration of the money allocated to Wales via the Shared Prosperity Fund to the Welsh Government, was sponsored by
Ben Lake. == Currently devolved powers ==