All Wales Convention

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’ 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, a former UN ambassador.[2]

The All Wales Convention reported its findings to the First Minister, Rhodri Morgan, on 18 November 2009.[3]

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.[4]

The All Wales Convention also found that the 60 assembly 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] After being renamed to the Senedd, plans to increase the numbers of members were increased to 96 were adopted.[5]

  1. ^ "All Wales Convention Q & A". BBC News. British Broadcasting Corporation. 13 January 2009. Archived from the original on 14 January 2009. Retrieved 4 October 2024.
  2. ^ Williamson, David (4 July 2008). "All-Wales Convention members named". WalesOnline. Reach Plc. Archived from the original on 28 September 2014. Retrieved 4 October 2024.
  3. ^ "Devolution report will 'surprise'". BBC News. British Broadcasting Corporation. 18 October 2009. Archived from the original on 25 January 2016. Retrieved 4 October 2024.
  4. ^ a b "More powers for Wales says report". BBC News. 18 November 2009. Archived from the original on 19 November 2009. Retrieved 23 April 2010.
  5. ^ Browne, Adrian; Deans, David (8 May 2024). "Plans for more Senedd politicians get go-ahead". BBC News. British Broadcasting Corporation. Archived from the original on 8 May 2024. Retrieved 4 October 2024.