26
were in favor and 49.7 percent were opposed.
85
By the early morning hours of
September 19, 1997 only a little over 25 percent of the eligible voting population of
Wales had decided that this small nation would have its own assembly. In fact, the “No”
vote led the “Yes” contingent throughout most of the night before the final county,
Carmarthenshire, reported its results and gave the narrowest of victories to the pro-
devolution supporters. This turn of events was not the staggering victory for Blair that
the Scottish referendum proved to be. Nevertheless, despite the fact that the referendum
only passed by 6,721 votes it was still a victory, which would serve as a catalyst for the
need to devolve power to England.
86
The eight English regions outside of London were granted a form of devolution
following the 1997 General Election. Although directly-elected regional assemblies were
not on offer, Tony Blair’s Government set up Regional Development Agencies, retained
the functions of the Government Offices for the Regions and established voluntary
Regional Chambers. This move by Tony Blair was not, however, at the insistence of
strong regional lobbies. Instead, his decision to devolve power to these eight regions was
made to prevent regionalist sentiment from increasing in power and visibility, in the wake
of Scottish and Welsh devolution, and leading to calls for devolved elected assemblies.
While this goal was not completely realized (please see below) the English regions have
been granted very little control over their own affairs.
85
Michael Keating, and Howard Elcock, “Introduction: Devolution and the UK State,” in Remaking the
Union: Devolution and British Politics in the 1990s, eds. Howard Elcock and Michael Keating (London:
Frank Cass Publishers, 1998), 7.
86
“Tiny Majority Turns Vote for Welsh Assembly,” 19 September 1997.
Convention