The Welsh Devolution Debate
12 September 1997

Scotland Votes Yes

Gordon Brown at Tower Colliery

That eminent Scot, Chancellor of the Exchequer Gordon Brown arrived in Cardiff this morning. He said he was confident that the vote for a Welsh assembly would be equally decisive as the result in Scotland. "I am absolutely sure that the momentum achieved in Scotland will be repeated in Wales next week because there is already a very strong pro-assembly campaign running in Wales."

Plaid Cymru President Dafydd Wigley said that the people of Scotland had shown Wales the way, and said "with the prospect of London and the regions in England being offered the chance to establish assemblies of their own in the near future, it is clear that Wales must take the opportunity to establish an assembly".

Others were not so enthusiastic. Tory leader William Hague said that the Scottish vote has resulted in a "sad night" for the country and he pledged to fight for a No vote to prevent the establishment of an Assembly in Wales, saying that the people of Wales "are being offered a pale shadow of what has been offered in Scotland".

Leading "No" campaigner, Professor Nick Bourne argued that overwhelming support for a Scottish parliament did not necessarily mean that the vote would be lost in Wales. He said the campaign would fight on, "The Government is hoping to sneak through a Welsh Assembly in the wake of yesterday. I beleive it is a piece of stage management that the Welsh people will see through and that the Government scheme will backfire".

Unlike the Scottish Parliament the 60-member Welsh Assembly will have no law making or tax raising powers though it will have control of the Welsh Office £7 billion budget.