Wales Act 1978

Wales Act 1978
Dates
United Kingdom
Long title	An Act to provide for changes in the government of Wales and in the constitution and functions of certain public bodies.
Citation	c. 52
Introduced by	Michael Foot
Territorial extent	United Kingdom
Royal assent	31 July 1978
Other legislation
Repealed by	Wales Act 1978 (Repeal) Order 1979 SI 1979/933
Relates to	Government of Wales Act 1998
Status: Repealed

The Wales Act 1978 was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom intended to introduce a limited measure of self-government in Wales through the creation of a Welsh Assembly. The act never took effect as a result of the "no" vote in 1979 Welsh devolution referendum and was repealed in 1979.

Welsh Assembly proposed by the Act

Had the Wales Act 1978 entered force, it would have created a Welsh Assembly without primary legislative or tax raising powers. The proposed assembly would have had 72 members elected by the first past the post system and would meet at the Coal Exchange in Cardiff.

It was planned that assembly would have operated under the committee system where subject committees would be formed with representation of all groups in the assembly.^[1]

Powers

The assembly would have had the ability to pass secondary legislation with responsibility for primary legislation remaining with the UK Parliament at Westminster. It would have taken over the powers and functions of the Secretary of State for Wales.

The proposed assembly would have had responsibility for:

housing
health
education
planning
management of the Welsh Development Agency
appointments to Welsh quangos
it would be able to aid the development of:
- Welsh language
- museums and galleries
- libraries
- arts and crafts
- sport
- culture
- recreation ^[2]

Referendum

Main article: Welsh devolution referendum, 1979

The provisions of the Act were put to the populace in 1979 in a referendum held on 1 March 1979 through the question:

'Do you want the provisions of the Wales Act 1978 to be put into effect?'

The results of the referendum were:

Choice	Votes	%
No	956,330	79.74
Yes	243,048	20.26
Valid votes	1,199,378	99.72
Invalid or blank votes	3,309	0.28
Total votes	1,202,687	100.00
Registered voters and turnout	2,038,048	59.01
Source: BBC

As a result, the Act never took effect, and was repealed in accordance with the Act's own provisions by the Wales Act 1978 (Repeal) Order 1979.

References

United Kingdom legislation

Pre-Parliamentary legislation	List of English statutes Charter of Liberties Magna Carta

Acts of Parliament by states preceding the Kingdom of Great Britain	Acts of the Parliament of England to 1483 1485–1601 1603–1641 Interregnum (1642–1660) 1660–1699 1700–1706 Acts of the Parliament of Scotland

Acts of Parliament of the Kingdom of Great Britain	1707–1719 1720–1739 1740–1759 1760–1779 1780–1800

Acts of the Parliament of Ireland	to 1700 1701–1800

Acts of Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland	1801–1819 1820–1839 1840–1859 1860–1879 1880–1899 1900–1919 1920–1939 1940–1959 1960–1979 1980–1999 2000 to date Halsbury's Statutes Legislation.gov.uk Short titles

Church of England measures	List Church of England Assembly (Powers) Act 1919

Legislation of devolved institutions	Acts of the Scottish Parliament List Acts and Measures of the National Assembly for Wales List Acts of the Northern Ireland Assembly List Acts of the Parliament of Northern Ireland List Orders in Council for Northern Ireland List

Orders-in-Council	Order in Council

Secondary legislation	United Kingdom Statutory Instruments Scottish Statutory Instruments Acts of Sederunt Acts of Adjournal

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