BY ANNE HOWIE
MANCHESTER, England - On September 18 the government proposal to establish an elected assembly in Wales was approved by 50.3 percent to 49.7 percent. This is a substantial turnaround from 1979, when a similar proposal was defeated by a margin of 4 - 1. The Yes vote was predominant in the Welsh-speaking rural counties in the north and west of Wales, and the traditional industrial and mining areas in the south. Those counties bordering England, and the area around the Welsh capital, Cardiff, returned No votes.

United with England since 1536, Wales has a population of 2.9 million, 18.5 percent of whom speak Welsh as a first language. It has suffered substantially from the coal and steel closures of the last couple of decades, resulting in high unemployment, particularly among youth, of which more than a third are officially jobless.

The assembly to be established under the referendum will have strictly limited powers. Nevertheless, combined with the planned Scottish parliament, which was heavily endorsed in a referendum September 1, the move will constitute the biggest constitutional change in the UK since the partition of Ireland and the establishment of the Irish Free State in 1921.

The Labour government is also committed to further constitutional changes - including abolition of the right of hereditary peers to vote in the House of Lords, the creation of an elected mayor and authority for London, and regional development agencies, with devolved powers, in the English regions.

Anne Howie is a member of the Transport and General Workers Union.  
 
 
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