Canolfan Llywodraethiant Cymru | |
Formation | 1999 |
---|---|
Founder | Barry Jones (director until 2014) |
Founded at | Cardiff, Wales |
Legal status | Academic institution |
Purpose | Undertaking research into the law, government, politics & public finances of Wales |
Location | |
Region served | Wales |
Official language | English and Welsh |
Director | Richard Wyn Jones (since 2009) |
Parent organization | Cardiff University |
Affiliations | Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) |
Website | www |
The Wales Governance Centre (WGC) (Welsh : Canolfan Llywodraethiant Cymru) is a research centre and think-tank based Cardiff, Wales, which specialises in research into the law, politics, government and political economy of Wales, as well the wider territorial governance of the UK and Europe. [1] It was established shortly after the 1997 Welsh devolution referendum, and was founded by Barry Jones in 1999. Its current director is Professor Richard Wyn Jones, and it is a part of Cardiff University.
The centre was established following the 1997 Welsh devolution referendum and during the debate about implementing the programme of devolution in Wales.
The Centre produces the nationally reported coverage of Welsh politics of the Elections in Wales Etholiadau yng Nghymru blog written by Professor Roger Awan-Scully. [2]
In 2019 it established a new branch, the Wales Fiscal Analysis, to focus on "authoritative and independent research" into the public finances, taxation and public expenditures of Wales. [3]
The WGC funded by Cardiff University through Research Councils UK and the European Research Council.
The centre has worked with a number of other organisations on jointly funded projects including the Public Policy Institute for Wales, [4] the Institute of Welsh Affairs, [4] the Welsh Centre for International Affairs, UK in a Changing Europe, University College London, the Electoral Reform Society Cymru, [4] the Rowntree Charitable Trust [4] and the Nuffield Foundation. [4]
A number of academics from across Wales are currently, or have previously been involved with the institute.
Directors
Plaid Cymru is a centre-left to left-wing, Welsh nationalist political party in Wales, committed to Welsh independence from the United Kingdom. It campaigns on a platform of social democracy and civic nationalism. The party is a strong supporter of the European Union and is a member of the European Free Alliance (EFA). The party holds 4 of 32 Welsh seats in the UK Parliament, 12 of 60 seats in the Senedd, and 202 of 1,231 principal local authority councillors. Plaid was formed in 1925 under the name Plaid Genedlaethol Cymru and Gwynfor Evans won the first Westminster seat for the party at the 1966 Carmarthen by-election.
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 to 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 officially known as the National Assembly for Wales and was often simply called the Welsh Assembly.
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.
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, formerly known as the Labour Party in Wales, is an autonomous section of the United Kingdom Labour Party in Wales and the largest party in modern Welsh politics. Welsh Labour and its forebears have won a plurality of the Welsh vote at every UK general election since 1922, every Assembly and Senedd election since 1999, and all elections to the European Parliament in the period 1979–2004 and in 2014. Welsh Labour holds 27 of the 32 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.
There are four types of elections in Wales: elections to the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, elections to the devolved Senedd, local elections to community councils and the 22 principal areas, and the police and crime commissioner elections. In addition there are by-elections for each aforementioned election. Elections are held on Election Day, which is conventionally a Thursday. Three of these four types of elections are held after fixed periods; the exception is UK general elections, the timing of which is at the discretion of the prime minister of the United Kingdom. Senedd elections may be postponed to avoid elections to the UK parliament and Senedd coinciding with each other.
Welsh independence is the political movement advocating for Wales to become a sovereign state, independent from the United Kingdom.
Richard Wyn Jones FAcSS FLSW is a Welsh academic at Cardiff University, where he is Director of Cardiff University's Wales Governance Centre and Dean of Public Affairs. Jones was a former Professor of Welsh Politics at Cardiff as well as the founding Director of the Institute of Welsh Politics and Critical Security Studies at Aberystwyth University.
The Commission on Devolution in Wales, also known as the Silk Commission, was an independent commission established by Welsh Secretary Cheryl Gillan on 11 October 2011. The commission was based at the Wales Office Cardiff headquarters, at Cardiff Bay and met for the first time on 4 November 2011 at the Millennium Stadium, Cardiff. The commission reviewed the case for the devolution of fiscal powers to the Welsh Assembly, now the Senedd, and considered the case for increasing the powers of the assembly. It published its findings in two parts.
Unionism in Wales is the political view that supports a political union between Wales and the other countries of the United Kingdom. As well as the current state of the UK, unionism may also include support for Federalism in the United Kingdom and a United Kingdom Confederation.
The Abolish the Welsh Assembly Party, or in Wales, simply Abolish, is a registered single issue political party in Wales. It campaigns for the abolition of the Senedd, formerly known as the "National Assembly for Wales", the devolved legislature of Wales. Abolish advocates that devolved powers be returned to the Secretary of State for Wales within the UK Central Government and the Parliament of the United Kingdom at Westminster.
Roger Awan-Scully,, also known as Roger Scully, is a British political scientist and academic. He has authored numerous books including: Becoming Europeans? Attitudes, Behaviour, and Socialization in the European Parliament, and co-authored Representing Europe’s Citizens? Electoral Institutions and the Failure of Parliamentary Representation in Europe and Wales Says Yes: Devolution and the 2011 Welsh Referendum. He is full professor of political science at the School of Law and Politics of Cardiff University. He is principal investigator for the ESRC-funded 2016 Welsh Election Study. Scully studied at the University of Lancaster and the University of Durham, and earned a PhD from Ohio State University. He was lecturer in European politics at Brunel University from 1997 to 1999, and joined Aberystwyth University in January 2000. At Aberystwyth, he was promoted to senior lecturer (2004) and reader (2006), before becoming professor of political science in 2007.
The Riverside electoral ward of Cardiff covers the Riverside and Pontcanna areas of the city, electing three councillors to Cardiff Council. The ward was originally created in 1890, as a ward to Cardiff County Borough Council.
In the run-up to the 2021 Senedd election, various organisations carried out opinion polling to gauge voting intentions. Results of such polls are displayed in this list. Most of the pollsters listed are members of the British Polling Council (BPC) and abide by its disclosure rules.
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.
Taxation in Wales typically comprises payments to one or more of the three different levels of government: the UK government, the Welsh Government, and local government.
Welsh devolution is the transfer of legislative powers for self-governance to Wales by the Parliament of the United Kingdom. The current system of devolution began following the enactment of the Government of Wales Act 1998, with the responsibility of various devolved powers granted to the Welsh Government rather than being the responsibility of the Government of the United Kingdom.
There have been calls for further Welsh devolution, increasing the autonomy for Wales, since the Welsh legislature of the Senedd was founded following the 1997 Welsh devolution referendum.