4 March 2011
Wales has voted overwhelmingly in favour of extending the powers of the National Assembly for Wales in yesterday’s referendum.
With results in from all areas, the ‘yes’ campaign has won with 517,132 votes, to 297,308 votes against. All 22 local authority areas voted ‘yes’ except for Monmouthshire.
The vote means the Assembly no longer has to ask permission from the UK Parliament to make laws on subject areas within its competence.
In the past, the Assembly could legislate on some but not all aspects of 20 devolved subjects, such as education, health and local government. That distinction will now go.
First Minister Carwyn Jones said: ‘I am very pleased that the people of Wales have voted in favour of the assembly having greater law-making powers.’
He said the old system ‘had an element of duplication, and created confusion about who was responsible for what’.
Jones said: ‘Removing that duplication will enable us to use our legislative capacity more effectively, and people will gain a clearer understanding of the role and responsibilities of the devolved institutions in Wales.’
The Assembly's presiding officer, Lord Dafydd Elis-Thomas, said: 'By voting yes, the people of Wales have placed their trust in us to meet a very clear challenge.
'We must demonstrate to them that their Assembly understands their ambitions for Wales, and is able to engage with them to realise those ambitions.'
The Assembly Commission has begun a process to improve the way the Assembly operates and allow more people to play a direct role in its work.
The commission will publish proposals to change the the rules that govern how the Assembly operates next week. These proposals will aim to give Assembly Members more scope to reflect the needs of the people of Wales in the law-making and government scrutiny process.
The changes voted on in the referendum are expected to take effect once a new Assembly has been elected on May 5.
