Friday 4 March 2011

Yes for Wales


It is so pleasing to see the resounding yes vote in the referendum on further powers for the Welsh Assembly, with 21 of its 22 counties delivering a Yes vote. Well done Wales.

It certainly brings back fond memories of when I was in Cardiff for the 1997 referendum. I had been invited onto a Channel 4 late night results programme in order to comment on the implications of a Yes vote for the rest of the UK. But because it looked like it was going to be a No vote, I was not used.

However, I did get to attend the Yes party at the Park Hotel where we watched the knife-edge vote finally make devolution a reality … and then we celebrated.

Fourteen years on, it is inspiring to see the growing confidence in Wales and their developing democracy, with all significant political parties backing greater powers.

Here in Cornwall it remains so different, having been forced up the dead-end of local government reform by the Liberal Democrats and Labour.

No comments: