Home Office advised against Queen opening Welsh Assembly
- Published
The Queen has visited the Cardiff Bay parliament several times since its formation
The Home Office advised against the Queen opening the future Welsh Assembly ahead of the devolution referendum in 1997, newly released papers show.
An official wrote such an event would not be appropriate, with the body not able make new laws at the start.
As it would be "wholly subordinate" to Westminster "no question of direct relations with the sovereign would arise", she wrote.
The monarch went on to attend the official opening of the body in 1999.
The 1997 files from the National Archives files also show that former Labour Prime Minister Tony Blair was urged to visit Wales to bolster support in the vote on whether to set up the Welsh Assembly.
After the referendum took place a senior official blamed what he called the Welsh "language mafia" for the narrow result.
The assembly changed its name to the Welsh Parliament/Senedd Cymru in 2020.
It was established in 1999 following the referendum in September 1997, with 50.3% of voters supporting Yes and 49.7% voting No, on a turnout of 50.22%.
When it was created it could not pass its own bills into law, but that changed in 2011 following a further referendum.
A letter from a senior civil servant to the then Wales Office, dated 19 June 1997, said: "Although it is intended that The Queen or Her representative should formally open the Scottish Parliament, we do not think that the same treatment would be appropriate for the Welsh Assembly, which has no primary legislative functions."
It added that there had been no discussion about it at a cabinet sub-committee on devolution, "presumably because it was assumed that as a body wholly subordinate to the Westminster Parliament no question of direct relations with the sovereign would arise".
The monarch, together with the Duke of Edinburgh and Prince Charles, opened the Assembly on 27 May 1999.
She has visited the Cardiff Bay parliament on several occasions since, including the official opening of the Senedd building in 2007, and at the start of the last term in 2016.
Welsh ministers also became appointees of the Crown in 2007.
The Queen officially opened the Senedd building in 2007
The papers also show that a Downing Street official had urged Tony Blair to visit Wales ahead of the 1997 referendum to campaign for the assembly's creation.
The official said Welsh public opinion was "finely balanced" and Mr Blair should do his "July regional tour there".
However, the official added: "Watch out for the Welsh National Show. This is a ghastly cows and National Costume affair."
The former prime minister went on to take part in the pro-devolution campaign, visiting south Wales in July 1997.
'No clear campaign strategy'
The documents released by the National Archives also included a confidential memo which identified a number of issues with the Yes campaign, proffering suggestions on why the result was not more clear cut.
It highlighted an "absence of clear political direction" and "no clear campaign strategy".
The memo also suggested the campaign failed to adequately counter the accusation from the "no" campaign that people "will be forced to speak Welsh".
Peter Hain, the parliamentary under-secretary for Wales, was said to be "particularly concerned about the need to reform Wales' Labour Party" to ensure it was both "better at campaigning" and offered "proper opportunities for women candidates".
And Pat McFadden, a Downing Street aide who would become a Labour MP in 2005, agreed attacks over cost and allegations of an assembly creating "jobs for the boys" were successful "because we could not advance a good positive reason for having an Assembly".
He said: "In other words, the cost would have been more defensible if it was for something people thought was worth having."
He added, in his note to Jonathan Powell, Mr Blair's chief of staff: "On the Welsh language you know my view - this scared people in much of Wales who already resent the language mafia."
Mr Blair later said he "steamrolled" devolution into being in Wales despite objections from many within his party.
- Published7 June 2016
