Wales

A

Executive and Legislature

With the elections of May 6, 1999 (and subsequently on May 1, 2003 and May 3, 2007), Wales has its own assembly—the first separate assembly in Wales for six centuries. The Welsh Assembly has power over economic development; agriculture, forestry, fisheries, and food; industry and training; education; local government; health and personal social services; housing; environment; town and country planning; transport and roads; arts, culture, and the Welsh language; the built heritage; sport and recreation; tourism; water and flood defence. Westminster retains powers over foreign affairs; defence; taxation; macro-economic policy; fiscal and common markets policy; broadcasting policy; justice system; prisons; police; fire service; national lottery and related matters; social security; benefits; competition policy; labour market policy. The Welsh Assembly and its officials have taken over the functions previously carried out by the Secretary of State for Wales, who continues to represent Wales in the British Cabinet. Unlike the Scottish parliament the Welsh Assembly has no tax-raising or law-making powers.

The Welsh Assembly, which sits for a four-year term, consists of 60 members, elected by a mixture of the first-past-the-post electoral system and a form of proportional representation known as the additional member system. Of the 60 members of the Welsh Assembly (MWAs), 40 are elected from constituencies under the traditional first-past-the-post and 20 are selected from party lists in the country's five electoral regions. These regions are the same as the current European parliamentary areas, and four MWAs are selected for each region. The first sitting occurred in May 1999, when the first secretary and the executive were appointed. The official opening was on May 26, and was carried out by the Queen and the Prince of Wales. MWAs can also simultaneously represent constituencies at the Westminster parliament.

B

Local Government

Local government in Wales was reorganized in 1974, when the former counties and boroughs were amalgamated into eight new counties; Clwyd, Dyfed, Gwent, Gwynedd, Mid Glamorgan, Powys, South Glamorgan, and West Glamorgan. The counties were divided into a total of 37 local government districts, which were further divided into communities. Administration at all three levels was a function of popularly elected councils.

Under the Local Government (Wales) Act 1994, another fundamental reorganization of administration in Wales was introduced on April 1, 1996. The 8 county councils and 37 district councils were replaced by 22 unitary local government authorities divided equally between counties (11) and county boroughs (11); the population of the latter type tends to be mainly urban. Only Powys of the 1974 counties has retained its name, although its boundaries have been expanded to include the southernmost part of the former county of Clwyd. The other seven have vanished, to be replaced by unitary authorities which, in the case of the new counties, often bear the name of the pre-1974 Welsh counties—for example, Carmarthenshire, Flintshire, Monmouthshire, and Pembrokeshire. Cardiff and Swansea formerly had district councils; they are now the focus of counties that bear their names. The island of Anglesey, formerly part of Gwynedd, has regained its pre-1974 status as a county in its own right. The county boroughs, which are concentrated in South Wales, the most heavily populated part of the country, generally conform to the boundaries of the old district councils.

The new Welsh unitary authorities are the following counties: Isle of Anglesey; Cardiff; Carmarthenshire; Ceredigion; Denbighshire; Flintshire; Gwynedd; Monmouthshire; Pembrokeshire; Powys; and Swansea; and county boroughs: Blaenau Gwent; Bridgend; Caerphilly; Conwy, Merthyr Tydfil; Neath Port Talbot; Newport; Rhondda Cynon Taff; Torfaen; Vale of Glamorgan; and Wrexham.

Elections were held in May 1995 to establish councils for the new bodies. The task of these new councils was to prepare for the changeover and “shadow” the work of the existing authorities, and they took over administrative responsibility on April 1, 1996. The community councils, equivalent to parish councils in England, were unaffected by the changes.

VI

History

Before the arrival of the Celts from about 600 bc, Wales was occupied by a number of groups whose presence has been determined archaeologically. From about 4000 bc the Middle Stone Age (Mesolithic) peoples of the area began to be replaced by more advanced Neolithic groups from continental Europe. It was these people who built the stone-chambered tombs called cromlechs found mainly in Anglesey, southern Pembrokeshire and Carmarthenshire, the Gower Peninsula, and the Vale of Glamorgan. During the late Neolithic era and early Bronze Age (about 2400 bc), there was a new wave of migrants from continental Europe, who brought copper technology, improved farming, and a distinctive pottery that has given them their name, the Beaker folk. During the late Bronze Age (1400-600 bc) hill forts were built, of which as many as 600 have been found in Wales.

A

The Celts and the Roman Conquest

The country, like the whole of Great Britain south of the Scottish Highlands, was occupied by Brythonic-speaking Celts from about 600 bc, bringing with them Iron Age technology and the Druidic religion. At the time of the first coming of the Romans to Wales in 55 bc, the country was inhabited by the Silures in the south-east, the Demetii in the south-west, the Ordovicii in the north-west, and the Deceangli in the north-east.

After a long struggle, the subjugation of these tribes was completed during the reign (ad 69-79) of the Roman emperor Vespasian. Roman control was maintained from two legionary fortresses at Chester, in England, and Caerleon, linked by 30 smaller fortresses. By ad 120 most of Wales had accepted Roman rule; the Silures received some self-government based at Caerwent; Carmarthen, the only other Roman town in Wales, was the centre of the Demetii.

B

The Welsh Kingdoms

After the collapse of Roman rule in the 400s, Welsh history becomes unclear until the 800s. The Brythonic Celtic inhabitants of England, fleeing before the waves of Anglo-Saxon invasion and settlement from the 6th century, took refuge in the Welsh mountains. Here, they intermarried with their native kin and maintained their independence against the conquerors of England. Welsh had emerged as a distinct daughter language of Brythonic by about 600; the word Cymry (“fellow countryman”) was adopted as the name for the speakers of Cymraeg. The country’s many small kingdoms eventually merged into four major ones: Gwynedd in the north-west, the dominant kingdom; Powys in the centre; Deheubarth in the south-west; and Morgannwg in the south-east. Offa’s Dyke, built during the reign of Offa, King of Mercia, was an earthwork demarcating the boundary of Wales and protecting the border area of England from Welsh attacks.