Date set for historical Referendum trigger vote
Posted on Tuesday, February 2, 2010 at 3:11pm
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IT’S a truly historical announcement for Wales. Today, the First Minister and Ieuan Wyn Jones AM, Deputy First Minister for Wales, have announced a date for the trigger vote for the referendum.
It will take place next week, on the 9th of February. The Government will then write to the Secretary of State for Wales, and the process will start to take shape regarding the wording of the referendum, and its timing.
Ieuan said this at the press conference this morning-
“I think we can now say with confidence that the institution which was set up following the referendum in 1997 has earned its place in the hearts of the daily lives of the people of Wales and people now see the Assembly as an institution – a credible institution – that should be making decisions about their daily lives increasingly.”The motion will reads as follow.
The motion reads as follows-
‘ To propose that the National Assembly for Wales:
resolves, in accordance with section 104(1) of the Government of Wales Act 2006, that a recommendation should be made to her Majesty in Council to make an Order in Council under section 103(1) of the Act.’
I hear that the Tories and the Lib dems want a date to be specified at this juncture, but I am led to believe that the question and the date will be set at a later stage in the process.
This trigger vote does exactly what it says do on the tin: trigger the vote. Details can be and must be discussed later on, but it is the principle of voting in favour of having the referendum that is the all important factor now. We need two thirds of all AMs to ensure that this passes due to the fact that it is a constitutional motion, and I hope AMs from all parties will support it. After all, we have already had a vote in the Assembly previously, where all parties voted in support of a referendum. This is about the future of our nation. Playing games with this serves nobody well.
Once this vote has taken place, it will give us the green light to start setting up a strong and vibrant Yes campaign. Before a general election, going hard publicly will not suit parties who will be at logger heads, but it doesn’t stop us preparing the key messages. After all, we have a piece of work to do in encouraging the Welsh public to vote yes in this referendum. Anoraks discussing it in the Assembly can only go so far!
But at the end of the day, I am truly delighted that this date has now been determined, and that the coalition parties are working together successfully on this. Let’s see how the vote goes next week…
