This was the second referendum held in Wales over the question of devolution: the first referendumwas … The 1997 election result leaves the party with no MPs in Wales at all. The overall result was declared in the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama in Cardiff. All parties with more than 500 votes shown. The political backdrop of campaigning focused on public opinion towards a change in government. The BBC has kept track of every nuance of the 1997 General Election. This set a precedent, as the three subsequent general elections were also held alongside the May local elections. Unusually for a referendum just as in the 1997 Scottish devolution referendum the electorate was asked to vote on two statements rather than a question which corresponded to the following proposal. [6] The final result of the election on 2 May 1997 revealed that Labour had won a landslide majority, making a net gain of 146 seats and winning 43.2% of the vote. The Conservatives argued that a long campaign would expose Labour and allow the Conservative message to be heard. About Parliament: By-elections; By-elections in the current Parliament; Find out more. The overall result of the election ended 18 years of Conservative government, in their worst defeat since 1906, a defeat which left them devoid of any MPs outside of England, only 17 MPs north of the Midlands, and less than 20% of MPs in London. 27 June 1997 The local elections that took place in many parts of England on 1 May were overshadowed by the general election and the results of them were poorly reported in the national press. Labour had suddenly seized the middle ground of the political spectrum, attracting voters much further to the right than their traditional working class or left wing support. Parliament has decided to consult people in Wales on the Government's proposals for a Welsh Assembly: Under Tony Blair, the Labour Party won a landslide majority of English seats, the first time since 1966 that Labour had won an overall majority of English seats. Furthermore, about 200 candidates broke with official Conservative policy to oppose British membership of the single European currency. The 1997 United Kingdom general election was held on 1 May 1997. These notional results were calculated by Colin Rallings and Michael Thrasher and were used by all media organisations at the time. The referendum resulted in a narrow majority in favour, which led to the passing of the Government of Wales Act 1998 and the formation of the National Assembly for Wales in 1999. A commitment to the creation of a Welsh Assembly with executive powers was again put into the Labour Party manifesto for the 1992 general election. Their success in this election was won due to many different factors. [7] Although their share of the vote fell slightly, their total of 46 MPs was the highest for any UK Liberal party since David Lloyd George led the party to 59 seats in 1929. Prominent campaigners for a Yes vote included Labour politicians Leighton Andrews, Ron Davies, Alun Michael, Rhodri Morgan, Andrew Davies, Peter Hain, Hywel Francis, Edwina Hart and Val Feld; Liberal Democrat politicians Michael German, Jenny Randerson, Kirsty Williams and Peter Black; Plaid Cymru politicians Dafydd Wigley, Cynog Dafis Ieuan Wyn Jones and Leanne Wood; and academic Russell Deacon. The official No campaign, Just Say NO, was chaired by Nick Bourne, then-Conservative "Chief Spokesman in Wales". Their new image and transformation coupled with impressive campaigning proved to be a major factor. Differences in items included in these totals may explain some of the gap. Recent PQs show that of the estimated £3 million spending in Wales in 1997… The British economy had been in recession at the time of the 1992 election, which the Conservatives had won, and although the recession had ended within a year, events such as Black Wednesday had tarnished the Conservative government's reputation for economic management. Party chairman Brian Mawhinney said on the night of the election that defeat was due to disillusionment with 18 years of Conservative rule. The result declared for the constituency of Winchester showed a margin of victory of just two votes for the Liberal Democrats. The Liberal Democrats had suffered a disappointing performance in 1992, but they were very much strengthened in 1997 due in part to potential tactical voting between Labour and Lib Dem supporters in Conservative marginal constituencies, particularly in the south - which explains why while given their share of the vote decreased, their number of seats nearly doubled. [7] The difference between the 'agree' and 'disagree' vote was 6,721. Following the defeat, the Conservatives began their longest continuous spell in opposition in the history of the present day (post–Tamworth Manifesto) Conservative Party, and indeed the longest such spell for any incarnation of the Tories/Conservatives since the 1760s, lasting 13 years, including the whole of the 2000s. 3The 1997 referendums concerned Labour’s devolution projects in Scotland and Wales, and as such, they echoed the failed 1979 devolution referendums, also organised under a Labour government. Travis, Alan (17 April 1997). [18] 102 of them were on the Labour benches - controversially described as Blair Babes - driven by the Labour Party’s 1993 policy (ruled illegally discriminatory in 1996) of all-women shortlists. Indeed, although the Labour Party had committed itself to devolution in 1974 (following the advice of the Royal Commission on the Constitution) several Welsh Labour MPs (including Neil Kinnock) were very much opposed. Labour Leader, Tony Blair focused on transforming his party through a more centrist policy platform, entitled 'New Labour', with promises towards devolution referendums for Scotland and Wales, fiscal responsibility, and Blair's decision to nominate more female politicians for constituencies. The election was a crushing defeat for the Conservative Party, with the party having its lowest percentage share of the popular vote since 1832 under the Duke of Wellington's leadership, being wiped out in Scotland and Wales. Get 250,000 under-25-year-olds off benefit and into work by using money from a windfall levy on the privatised utilities. A referendum was held in 1979 (with a parallel referendum in Scotland) proposing the creation of a Welsh Assembly, under James Callaghan's Labour government. [3] The Labour Party shaped its policy of a Welsh Assembly under the guidance of Shadow Welsh Secretary Ron Davies and Welsh Office spokesmen Win Griffiths and Rhodri Morgan. The 1997 General election saw the Labour party clinch a landslide victory with a 93 seat majority, whilst winning 43.2% of the popular vote. The almost wholly anti-devolution, unionist Conservative Party won the 1979 general election (though Welsh Labour remained the largest party in Wales, the Conservatives only won 11 out of 36 seats in Wales)[1] and remained in government until 1997. Mae'r Senedd wedi penderfynu ymgynghori pobl yng Nghymru ar gynigion y Llywodraeth ar gyfer Cynulliad i Gymru: The official Yes campaign, Yes for Wales, was supported by Labour, the Liberal Democrats and Plaid Cymru, though they also ran their own individual campaigns. [7] The Lib Dems promised to increase education funding paid for by a 1p increase in income tax. There was no inter-party Constitutional Convention in Wales to define devolution as there had been in Scotland. The Statistics. The party threatened to take away many right-leaning voters from the Conservatives. 2005 general election The graphs below show the number of MPs elected from each party in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland at the 1997 general election. Labour also reversed its policy on unilateral nuclear disarmament and the events of Black Wednesday allowed Labour to promise greater economic management under the Chancellorship of Gordon Brown. By 1997, the Conservatives held only 324 House of Commons seats (and had not won a by-election since 1989). By 1987, the Labour Party had regained most of the support they had lost in 1983. Labour's initial proposal to elect a Welsh Assembly using the traditional first-past-the-post system was reversed in late-1996 in favour of the Additional Member System. The Labour campaign was reminiscent of those of Bill Clinton for the US Presidency, focusing on centrist themes, as well as adopting policies more commonly associated with the right, such as cracking down on crime and fiscal responsibility. United Kingdom - United Kingdom - The Tony Blair government (1997–2007): During its years out of power, the Labour Party had undergone a gradual transformation as it attempted to distance itself from the power of the unions on the one hand and the power of the membership on the other, in the guise of the traditional role of the Labour Party Conference. Major veered between the two approaches, which left Conservative Central Office staff frustrated. On the BBC's election night programme Professor Anthony King described the result of the exit poll, which accurately predicted a Labour landslide, as being akin to "an asteroid hitting the planet and destroying practically all life on Earth". Full results of the 1997 general election. A manifesto, entitled New Labour, New Life For Britain was released in 1996 and outlined five key pledges: Disputes within the Conservative government over European Union issues, and a variety of "sleaze" allegations had severely affected the government's popularity. House of Commons Enquiry Service. In the previously safe seat of Tatton, where incumbent Conservative MP Neil Hamilton was facing charges of having taken cash for questions, the Labour and Liberal Democrat parties decided not to field candidates in order that an independent candidate, Martin Bell, would have a better chance of winning the seat, which he did with a comfortable margin. This change was vital in order to gain the support of Plaid Cymru and the Welsh Liberal Democrats in the event of a referendum. [citation needed] Immediately following the election Major resigned both as Prime Minister and as party leader. [11] The election was scheduled for 1 May, to coincide with the local elections on the same day. At first glance, the 1997 election appears to continue that pattern. Do you agree that there should be a Welsh Assembly as proposed by the Government? John Major resigned as party leader, saying "When the curtain falls, it is time to leave the stage".[24]. 2. ... For many, this appeared to be the end for devolution in Wales.. 1979-1997. [4] Labour anti-devolution MPs (including Llew Smith, among others[5]) were subject to a tight parliamentary whip to ensure that the Labour Party was seen to be publicly behind the campaign. Labour had elected John Smith as its party leader in 1992, but his death from a heart attack in 1994 led the way for Tony Blair to become Labour leader. The Parliament Act 1911 required at the time for each Parliament to be dissolved before the fifth anniversary of its first sitting; therefore, the latest date the dissolution and the summoning of the next parliament could have been held on was 28 April 1997. The No campaign lacked the structure and finance of the Yes campaign, and suffered from the fact that the Conservatives landslide defeat at the 1997 general election meant there were no Conservative MPs (and therefore no MPs supporting the No campaign) in Wales. This factsheet has been archived. The defeated Conservative candidate mounted a successful legal challenge to the result on the grounds that errors by election officials (failures to stamp certain votes) had changed the result; the court ruled the result invalid and ordered a by-election on 20 November which was won by the Liberal Democrats with a much larger majority, causing much recrimination in the Conservative Party about the decision to challenge the original result in the first place. The incumbent governing Conservative Party led by Prime Minister John Major was defeated in a landslide by the Labour Party led by Tony Blair. The three main candidates to become Prime Minister are shown to the right: The Labour Party and its leader Tony Blair gained the majority of seats and created the first Labour government since 1979. "Rebels' seven-year march". 3. Following the result from Brecon, Peter Snow takes the viewers back through the history of Conservative seats in Wales. The previous Parliament first sat on 29 April 1992. [12], The Conservative Party began low in the polls, and had experienced great difficulties over the previous five years, with polling often putting it some 40 points adrift of Labour. [citation needed] Major hoped that a long campaign would expose Labour's "hollowness" and the Conservative campaign emphasised stability, as did its manifesto title 'You can only be sure with the Conservatives'. The 1985 amendment of the Representation of the People Act 1983 required that the election must take place on the eleventh working day after the deadline for nomination papers, which in turn must be no more than six working days after the next parliament was summoned. Major sought to rebuild public trust in the Conservatives following a series of scandals, including the events of Black Wednesday in 1992,[2] through campaigning on the strength of the economic recovery following the early 1990s recession, but faced divisions within the party over the UK's membership of the European Union.[3]. The 2001 United Kingdom general election was held on Thursday 7 June 2001, four years after the previous election on 1 May 1997, to elect 659 members to the House of Commons. Such was the extent of Conservative losses at the election that Cecil Parkinson, speaking on the BBC's election night programme, joked upon the Conservatives winning their second seat that he was pleased that the subsequent election for the leadership would be contested. This election saw a doubling of the number of women in parliament, from 60 elected in 1992 to 120 elected in 1997. Fieldwork for the one-wave, post-election survey was undertaken face-to-face by the National Centre for Social Research.) Labour ran a slick campaign, which emphasised the splits within the Conservative government, and argued that the country needed a more centrist administration. The statements were issued both in English and Welsh. The election was fought under new boundaries, with a net increase of eight seats compared to the 1992 election (651 to 659). The Conservatives mostly appointed English MPs representing English constituencies to the post of Secretary of State for Wales, including William Hague and John Redwood (who famously attempted to mime the words to the Welsh national anthem at the 1993 Welsh Conservative Party conference.[2]). In the election's aftermath, commentators speculated whether it was at all possible for the Conservatives to overturn such a huge majority in a single election. The Welsh devolution referendum of 1997 was a pre-legislative referendum held in Wales on 18 September 1997 over whether there was support for the creation of a National Assembly for Wales, and therefore a degree of self-government. Therefore, the latest date the election could have been held on was 22 May 1997 (which happened to be a Thursday). Opinion polls during campaigning showed strong support for Labour due to the popularity of Blair amongst voters,[4][5] and Blair won a personal public endorsement from The Sun newspaper two months before the vote. I do not agree that there should be a Welsh Assembly, "John Redwood mimes the Welsh National Anthem", "1997 BBC election coverage - Dissent in the Labour Party", BBC coverage of the final referendum result, Greater London Authority (Referendum) Act 1998, Ministry of Justice - Devolution Directorate-General, Office of the Advocate General for Scotland, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=1997_Welsh_devolution_referendum&oldid=1017707418, September 1997 events in the United Kingdom, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License, Northern Ireland-related legislation of the UK Parliament. Labour ran a centrist campaign that was good at picking up dissatisfied Conservative voters, particularly moderate and suburban ones. How the UK voted on May 1st", "Labour's 1997 victory was a watershed for women but our gains are at risk", "House of Lords Debates 17 March 1997 vol 579 cc653-4: Dissolution of Parliament", "Advertising & Promotion: Ads contract election fever", "Election '97: John Major takes on the Tories", "Newspaper support in UK general elections", "Women in the House of Commons: Background Paper", "How the Class of '97 Changed Westminster", "General election 2017 sees record number of women candidates", "Women in Parliament since 1945: have they changed the debate? The incumbent governing Conservative Party led by Prime Minister John Major was defeated in a landslide by the Labour Party led by Tony Blair. "[16] In any case, the campaign failed to gain much traction, and the Conservatives went down to a landslide defeat at the polls. ), Catalogue of 1997 general election ephemera, 1995 Conservative Party leadership election, More Than a Game: The Story of Cricket's Early Years, Alan Clark Diaries: Volume 3: The Last Diaries 1993–1999, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=1997_United_Kingdom_general_election&oldid=1019937445, General elections to the Parliament of the United Kingdom, Articles needing additional references from August 2020, All articles needing additional references, Articles with unsourced statements from August 2020, Articles with unsourced statements from October 2020, Articles with unsourced statements from October 2011, Articles with unsourced statements from February 2018, Pages using bar box without float left or float right, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License. The Conservatives, meanwhile, suffered defeat with a net loss of 178 seats, despite winning 30.7% of the vote. The 1997 General Election 8 4 Difference between share of list and constituency votes by electoral region 8 5 Top-up seats won by round 9 6 Candidates finishing in first, second, third and fourth places 9 ... Wales voters were given two ballot papers: one used to elect each of 40 members under Tony Blair, highly popular, was very much the centrepiece of the campaign, and proved a highly effective campaigner. In March 1997, soon after the election was called, Asda introduced a range of election-themed beers, these being 'Major's Mild', 'Tony's Tipple' and 'Ashdown's Ale'. This was the second referendum held in Wales over the question of devolution: the first referendum was held in 1979 and was defeated by a large majority. How Britain Voted in 1997. The 1983 General Election was not the end of Labour hegemony in Wales. Meanwhile, Paddy Ashdown's continued leadership of the Liberal Democrats was assured, and they were felt to be in a position to build positively as a strong third party into the new millennium,[26] culminating in their sharing power in the 2010 coalition with the Conservatives. Following the 1964 UK election, the new Labour government created the office of Secretary of State for Wales. Elections to the National Assembly for Wales existed from 1999 until 2016, after Welsh voters narrowly approved it in the 1997 devolution referendum. Although the Conservatives lost many ministers such as Michael Portillo, Tony Newton, Malcolm Rifkind, Ian Lang and William Waldegrave and controversial MPs such as Neil Hamilton and Jonathan Aitken,[8] some of the Conservative newcomers in this election were future Prime Minister Theresa May, future Chancellor of the Exchequer Philip Hammond as well as future Speaker John Bercow. 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