History of Wales Assembly and devolution of power.

When the labour party won elections in May 1997 part of their manifesto was to hold a referendum in Wales as published in the White paper (voice of Wales). The referendum was held and the people decided on (a) to agree that their should b a Welsh Assembly (b) do not agree that there should be a Welsh Assembly .Out of the 50.1% of voters that turned up for the referendum held in May 1997 50.3% supported establishing a new assembly a slim majority of 6721 votes.

                                           http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ha8o7Gd6HY


 The first elections to the new institution was held in 6 may 1999. As a result of difficulties which the assembly encountered during its inception demands for changes were made to permit distinct powers for the executive and legislature.The legal separation of the executive and the legislature was established as suggested by the Richard commission. In 2004 the Richard commission also recommended that the powers of the Assembly be strengthened because it lacked the capacity to perform effectively, following the recommendation an act was introduced  "The Government of Wales Act 2006" which permitted the assembly to gain more power in devolved areas.

 According to the "Government of Wales Act 2006" the Welsh government would consist of the First Minister, Welsh Minister, Deputy Minster, and Counsel General. They are saddled with the responsibility of implementing polices. The National assembly consist of 60 elected members from their respective constituencies. They scrutinize the Ministers and the Government. The 2007 elections was officially introduced by the new act. After the elections the  Labour  and Plaid Cymru formed a coalition to pursue full law making powers through a referendum.

 The Welsh electorate voted in favour of full law making powers in March 3 2011. In all the 23 local authority areas 22 areas voted yes but 1, the 5th of may 2011 the assembly assumed full powers. The referendum was significant because it was set out to ask the voters if the Assembly should progress  to the part four of the Government of Wales act which spells out the full extent of the law according to BBC (2011). BBC also reported that the turn out was very low with an overall result of "yes votes 517,132 ,63% no votes of  297,380, 36.5%  turn out 35.4%".Before the referendum all laws passed in Cardiff were subject to accent from Westminster on a case by case basis through a Legislative Competence Order. The Assembly has passed several bills since inception, on 10 September 2013 the assembly passed a bill introduced by Lesley Griffith Am, Minister for Health and Social services. The bill is titled "Human transplantation Wales". The bill increases the availability of more organs and tissues for transplant by introduction of a self opt - out system of organ and tissue donation in Wales

Further information on the Welsh Assembly visit http://wales.gov.uk/?lang=en http://www.assemblywales.org/,  http://www.assemblywales.org/

References

BBC (2011) Wales say yes in a referendum vote. Available at http://www.bbc,co.uk/news/ (Accessed 3 November 2013)

National Assembly for Wales (2013) The history of welsh assembly. Available at http://www.assemblywales.org/...of assembly.../history-welsh-devolution.htm ( Accessed 3 November 2013)