The All Wales Convention was set up by Rhodri Morgan, the First Minister and Ieuan Wyn Jones, the Deputy First Minister of the Welsh Government, to educate the public about the current system of government in Wales and to promote a debate throughout Wales on the National Assembly for Wales’ current devolution settlement and whether there should be a referendum on moving to primary law-making powers. [1]
The convention was chaired by Sir Emyr Jones Parry.
The All Wales Convention reported its findings to the First Minister, Rhodri Morgan, on 18 November 2009. [2]
The convention recommended that a referendum be held on giving the Welsh Assembly full law-making powers. Polling by the convention found that 47% would vote "yes" and 37% "no", leading the convention to claim that a yes result would be obtainable. The convention also recommended that a poll be held before June 2010, and said a full law-making Assembly would be better than the current system. [3]
The All Wales Convention also found that the current 60 members could handle the additional work that would come from further powers and there should be no increase in members as a result of more powers. [4]
Plaid Cymru is a centre-left to left-wing, Welsh nationalist political party in Wales, committed to Welsh independence from the United Kingdom.
Hywel Rhodri Morgan was a Welsh Labour politician who was the First Minister of Wales and the Leader of Welsh Labour from 2000 to 2009. He was also the Assembly Member for Cardiff West from 1999 to 2011 and the Member of Parliament for Cardiff West from 1987 to 2001. He was, as of 2018, the longest-serving First Minister of Wales. He was Chancellor of Swansea University from 2011 to 2017.
The Senedd, officially known as the Welsh Parliament in English and Senedd Cymru in Welsh, is the devolved, unicameral legislature of Wales. A democratically elected body, it makes laws for Wales, agrees certain taxes and scrutinises the Welsh Government. It is a bilingual institution, with both Welsh and English being the official languages of its business. From its creation in May 1999 until May 2020, the Senedd was known as the National Assembly for Wales.

Ronald Davies is a Welsh politician, former Secretary of State for Wales, former Member of Parliament and former member of the Welsh Assembly. He describes himself as a politician belonging to the "traditional left" who had "spent his life looking for a socialist progressive party". He was a member of the Labour Party, and then of Forward Wales (2004-2009); he was subsequently an independent MP and eventually joined Plaid Cymru in 2010.
Ieuan Wyn Jones is a Welsh politician who was the Deputy First Minister in the Welsh Government from 2007 to 2011. He was the Member of the Senedd for the Ynys Môn constituency from 1999 to 2013, and he was also leader of Plaid Cymru from 2000 to 2012. Jones served as Member of Parliament for Ynys Môn constituency from 1987 to 2001, when he retired to focus on his work in the Welsh Assembly. In 2007, Jones was named Wales' "Politician of the Year" by the BBC Wales am.pm programme. He resigned from the Welsh Assembly on 20 June 2013. In 2017 he unsuccessfully sought to return to the House of Commons for his former constituency.
The Welsh devolution referendum of 1997 was a pre-legislative referendum held in Wales on 18 September 1997 over whether there was support for the creation of a National Assembly for Wales, and therefore a degree of self-government. The referendum was a Labour manifesto commitment and was held in their first term after the 1997 election under the provisions of the Referendums Act 1997. This was the second referendum held in Wales over the question of devolution: the first referendum was held in 1979 and was defeated by a large majority.
The Office of the Secretary of State for Wales, informally known as the Wales Office, is a department of His Majesty's Government. It replaced the former Welsh Office, which had extensive responsibility for governing Wales prior to Welsh devolution in 1999.
Welsh nationalism emphasises and celebrates the distinctiveness of Welsh culture and Wales as a nation or country. Welsh nationalism may also include calls for further autonomy or self determination which includes Welsh devolution, meaning increased powers for the Senedd, or full Welsh independence.
Politics in Wales forms a distinctive polity in the wider politics of the United Kingdom, with Wales as one of the four constituent countries of the United Kingdom (UK).
Yes for Wales! is the name used to refer to two separate cross-party pro-devolution groups that were formed in the lead up to the 1997 and the 2011 devolution referendums held in Wales.
Welsh Labour is the branch of the United Kingdom Labour Party in Wales and the largest party in modern Welsh politics. Welsh Labour and its forebears won a plurality of the Welsh vote at every UK general election since 1922, Senedd election since 1999, and European Parliament election in 1979–2004 and 2014. Welsh Labour holds 22 of the 40 Welsh seats in the UK Parliament, 30 of the 60 seats in the Welsh Senedd and 576 of the 1,264 councillors in principal local authorities, including overall control of 10 of the 22 principal local authorities.
Leighton Andrews is an academic and former Welsh Labour politician. He was the National Assembly for Wales member for Rhondda from 2003 until 2016. He was Minister for Children, Education & Lifelong Learning from 2009 to 2011, then Minister for Education and Skills in the Welsh Government until his resignation on 25 June 2013 after an alleged conflict between his own departmental policy and his active campaigning to save a school in his constituency. In September 2014 he returned to the government as Minister for Public Services.
Welsh law is an autonomous part of the English law system composed of legislation made by the Senedd. Wales is part of the legal jurisdiction of England and Wales, one of the three legal jurisdictions of the United Kingdom. However, due to devolution, the law in Wales is increasingly distinct from the law in England, since the Senedd, the devolved parliament of Wales, can legislate on non-reserved matters.
Welsh independence is the political movement advocating for Wales to become a sovereign state, independent from the United Kingdom.
One Wales was the coalition agreement for the National Assembly for Wales between Labour and Plaid Cymru agreed to by Rhodri Morgan, First Minister of Wales and leader of Welsh Labour, and Ieuan Wyn Jones, leader of Plaid Cymru, on 27 June 2007. It was negotiated in the wake of the preceding National Assembly election which resulted in a large Labour plurality, but no majority. Labour and Plaid Cymru approved the document in separate votes on 6 and 7 July, respectively.
The referendum on the law-making powers of the National Assembly for Wales was a non-binding referendum held in Wales on 3 March 2011 on whether the National Assembly for Wales should have full law-making powers in the twenty subject areas where it has jurisdiction. The referendum asked the question: ‘Do you want the Assembly now to be able to make laws on all matters in the 20 subject areas it has powers for?’
The Independent Commission on Funding and Finance for Wales, also known as The Holtham Commission, was established by Rhodri Morgan, Ieuan Wyn Jones and Andrew Davies, of the Welsh Assembly Government. The establishment of the Commission was a commitment in the One Wales coalition agreement between Labour and Plaid Cymru in June 2007. Based in Cathays Park, Cardiff, the Commission completed its work in July 2010, publishing its findings in a final report: Fairness and accountability: a new funding settlement for Wales.
In the United Kingdom, devolution is the Parliament of the United Kingdom's statutory granting of a greater level of self-government to the Scottish Parliament, the Senedd, the Northern Ireland Assembly and the London Assembly and to their associated executive bodies the Scottish Government, the Welsh Government, the Northern Ireland Executive and in England, the Greater London Authority and combined authorities.
The Institute of Welsh Affairs (IWA) is an independent charity and membership-based think-tank based Cardiff, Wales, which specialises in public policy and debate around the economy, education, environment and health sectors in Wales.
Welsh devolution is the transfer of legislative power for self-governance to Wales by the Government of the United Kingdom. Wales was conquered by England during the 13th century; the 1284 Statute of Rhuddlan caused Wales to lose its de facto independence and formed the constitutional basis for it as a principality in the "Realm of England". The Laws in Wales Acts 1535 and 1542 applied English law to Wales and united the Principality and the Marches which effectively ended both and incorporated Wales into England. The Wales and Berwick Act 1746 defined "England" to include Wales until the Welsh Language Act 1967, which separated Wales from England within the sovereign state of the United Kingdom.