Nicholas Henry Bourne,Baron Bourne of Aberystwyth (born 1 January 1952) is a Conservative Party politician who served as Leader of the Welsh Conservative Party and Member of the Senedd for Mid and West Wales from August 1999 until May 2011.
During the 2011 Senedd election he unexpectedly lost his regional list seat,due to Conservative gains at constituency level. He was elevated to the House of Lords in September 2013, [1] and the following year,became a government whip.
Bourne was the first of two children of John Morgan Bourne and his wife,Joan Edith Mary Bourne. He was educated at King Edward VI School,Chelmsford;University of Wales,Aberystwyth;and Trinity College,Cambridge,where he was President of Cambridge University Lawyers and Treasurer of Cambridge University Conservative Association. [2] He is the Honorary President of Aberystwyth University Conservative Future. He obtained the bachelor of laws (First Class Honours) and LLM from University of Wales and the LLM from Trinity College,Cambridge. He was called to the Bar by the Honourable Society of Grays Inn.
A former professor of law,Bourne has been Assistant Principal of Swansea Institute of Higher Education,and was a visiting lecturer at Hong Kong University and an author of various legal textbooks on Commercial and Company Law. [2]
In 2015,Bourne was made a fellow of Aberystwyth University and in 2018,he received the Honorary degree of LLD from the University of Wales,Trinity St David.
Bourne was the Conservative Party candidate in the 1984 Chesterfield by-election,having stood in the same constituency at the previous year's general election. He fought the Worcester constituency in the 1997 general election. He was the Conservatives' chief spokesman in Wales,and led the unsuccessful "Just Say NO" campaign against Welsh devolution,during the 1997 referendum. After the referendum. he served on the National Assembly Advisory Group,the body that set up the institution's working arrangements. [2]
First elected to the National Assembly for Wales in 1999,and re-elected in 2003 and 2007. Bourne headed the regional list for the Conservatives for the entire period that he was in the National Assembly. Bourne sat on the Assembly's European and External Affairs committee and was the party's spokesman on constitutional matters. He was the leader of the Welsh Conservatives from August 1999, [3] and Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly from July 2007. Following a minor reshuffle in June 2008,Bourne also became the Shadow Minister for Finance and Public Service Delivery remaining in the post until 22 October 2008. [4] [5]
In the National Assembly,his political interests included the economy,foreign affairs,health and education. Bourne also supports charities and organizations in Wales,including the NSPCC,the National Trust,and the British Heart Foundation.
Bourne campaigned for rural communities,opposing onshore wind farm developments,the closure of post offices and small schools,and supporting improved health care provision in non-urban areas. He campaigned on issues such as the need for a referendum on plans to give the assembly law making powers and supported the campaign for more legislative powers when David Cameron granted a referendum,the future of the National Botanic Garden,and on the growing cost of government in Wales. [6] He is a member of the Doctors and Dentists Pay Review Body.
In 2005,he was presented with the Local Campaigner of the Year Award by BBC show AM.PM;he also won AM of the Year from ITV.
In 2011,he was nominated by the Welsh Conservatives as their representative on the Commission on Devolution in Wales,chaired by Paul Silk. He was also appointed by Edwina Hart to chair the Haven Waterway Enterprise Zone from 2012 to August 2014. In addition,he served as the Conservative representative on the Williams Commission on Public Service Governance and Delivery.
Bourne was created a life peer on 9 September 2013,taking the title Baron Bourne of Aberystwyth,of Aberystwyth in the County of Ceredigion,and of Wethersfield in the County of Essex. [7]
Lord Bourne was made a whip in the House of Lords on 11 August 2014,replacing Lord Bates who had been promoted as part of a mini-reshuffle following the resignation of Baroness Warsi. [8] During this period he was responsible for piloting the Pensions Schemes Bill through the House of Lords.
In May 2015,he was appointed Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State jointly for DECC and the Wales Office. [9] [10]
During 2017,Lord Bourne moved to the Northern Ireland Office before returning later in the year to the Wales Office,a post he continued to hold until his resignation in July 2019. At the same time,until his resignation,he was Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State in the Ministry of Housing,Communities and Local Government.
Lord Bourne received the National "No to Hate Crime Award" for 2019 from the Anti-Hate Organisation Tell MAMA which campaigns against Islamophobia and anti-Muslim hatred. In December 2019,Lord Bourne was appointed President of Remembering Srebrenica,a British charity initiative which is dedicated to bringing communities together to combat prejudice and intolerance. In particular,it also seeks to inculcate lessons of the genocide in Bosnia Herzegovina in 1995.
Plaid Cymru is a centre-left to left-wing,Welsh nationalist political party in Wales,committed to Welsh independence from the United Kingdom.
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 known as the National Assembly for Wales.
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.
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).
The 1979 Welsh devolution referendum was a post-legislative referendum held on 1 March 1979 to decide whether there was sufficient support for a Welsh Assembly among the Welsh electorate. The referendum was held under the terms of the Wales Act 1978 drawn up to implement proposals made by the Kilbrandon Report published in 1973.
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 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.
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.
The Welsh Conservatives is the branch of the United Kingdom Conservative Party that operates in Wales. At Westminster elections,it is the second-most popular political party in Wales,having obtained the second-largest share of the vote at every general election since 1931. In Senedd elections,the Conservatives are currently the second-most supported party but have at times been third. They hold 14 of the 40 Welsh seats in the UK Parliament,and 16 of the 60 seats in the Senedd.
The Welsh Liberal Democrats are a branch of the United Kingdom Liberal Democrats that operates in Wales. The party is led by Jane Dodds,who served as MP for Brecon and Radnorshire from August to December 2019,and MS for Mid and West Wales since May 2021. The party currently has 1 elected member in the Senedd and no Welsh seats in the UK House of Commons,but does have several members of the House of Lords. The party had 69 local councilors serving in principal authorities as of the 2022 local authority elections,up 10 from 2017.
Andrew RT Davies CBE is a Welsh politician serving as Leader of the Welsh Conservative Group in the Senedd since 2021,previously holding the position from 2011 to 2018. He has been a Member of the Senedd (MS) since 2007.
The referendum on the law-making powers of the National Assembly for Wales was a 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?’
Mark John Reckless is a British politician who served as a Member of the Senedd (MS) for South Wales East from 2016 until 2021,having previously served as Member of Parliament (MP) for Rochester and Strood from 2010 to 2015. Initially a member of the Conservative Party,he crossed the floor to join the UK Independence Party (UKIP) in September 2014. He has since changed parties a further three times.
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.
Suzy Davies is a Welsh Conservative Party politician,who served as a Member of the Senedd (MS) for South Wales West from 2011 to 2021. She was elected first on the Welsh Conservatives party list for the region in the 2011 election.
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.
The 2021 Senedd election took place on Thursday 6 May 2021 to elect 60 members to the Senedd. It was the sixth devolved general election since the Senedd was established in 1999. The election was held alongside the Scottish Parliament election,English local elections,London Assembly and mayoral election and the Hartlepool by-election.
Welsh devolution is the transfer of legislative power for self-governance to Wales by the Government of the United Kingdom.
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