Draft:1999–2000 Welsh political crisis
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Last edited by ThatRandomGuy1 (talk | contribs) 2 months ago. (Update) |
 Crickhowell House (now known as Tŷ Hywel), the building of the National Assembly for Wales at the time of the crisis, in June 2007 | |
| Date | October 1999–October 2000 |
|---|---|
| Cause |
|
| Motive |
|
| Outcome |
|
From October 1999 to October 2000, the National Assembly for Wales under the Labour administrations of Alun Michael and Rhodri Morgan faced a political and constitutional crisis.
Background
[edit]Political and constitutional context
[edit]Premiership of Alun Michael
[edit]Government crisis and resignation
[edit]Return to stability
[edit]
Later in the evening after Michael's resignation, the cabinet met and unanimously voted under the assembly's standing orders to appoint Morgan as the acting first secretary and its acting chair.[1][2]: 1 Michael did not attend the meeting.[2]: 1 Labour's Welsh executive committee also confirmed Morgan as the new leader of the Labour Party in Wales in an uncontested leadership election on 11 February.[3][4][5][6] On 15 February, Morgan was nominated unopposed as the new first secretary of Wales.[7]
Instability returned to the assembly for a short period in early and mid 2001 when German refused to resign after he was investigated by the police following accusations that he had misused his expenses earlier in his career, claims which he was cleared of in 2002. German did however resign later that year in June, pending the outcome of the investigation, and stability returned to the asssembly.
Legacy
[edit]The motion of no confidence in Alun Michael was the first and only time a first secretary or first minister of Wales had lost such a vote until 2024, when First Minister Vaughan Gething lost a motion of no confidence in the Senedd on his 77th day in office.[8][9][10] Unlike the motion against Michael, this motion was non-binding under the standing orders of the Senedd, so Gething decided not to resign and remained in office after he lost the vote.[11][12][13] Michael's 273 days in office made him the shortest-serving first minister in Welsh history until the resignation of Gething amid a political and government crisis July 2024, and also made him the shortest-serving devolved leader in the United Kingdom until the resignation of Northern Ireland's first minister Paul Givan on his 232nd day in office in 2022.[9][14]
The crisis around Michael is believed to have helped kill off moves for electoral reform in the UK Government from FPTP to PR, with Paul Murphy that ministers didn't want "to have to go through that [crisis] every day, thank you very much".[15]
The crisis led to the development of the clear red water strategy.[16]
Notes and references
[edit]Notes
[edit]References
[edit]- ^ Key Events in the Development of the National Assembly for Wales: First Assembly: 1999–2003 (PDF). National Assembly for Wales Research Service. 2012. p. 21. Retrieved 16 June 2024.
- ^ a b Osmond, John (March 2000). "Devolution Relaunched" (PDF). Monitoring the National Assembly: December 1999 to March 2000. Institute of Welsh Affairs. Retrieved 16 June 2024.
- ^ Kenny, Michael (11 January 2024). Fractured Union: Politics, Sovereignty and the Fight to Save the UK. Hurst Publishers. p. 41. ISBN 978-1-80526-084-4. Retrieved 16 June 2024.
- ^ Gooberman, Leon (1 February 2017). From Depression to Devolution: Economy and Government in Wales, 1934-2006. University of Wales Press. p. 192. ISBN 978-1-78316-959-7. Retrieved 16 June 2024.
- ^ Henig, Stanley (March 2002). Modernising Britain: Central, Devolved, Federal?. Bloomsbury Academic. p. 52. ISBN 978-1-903403-13-6. Retrieved 16 June 2024.
- ^ Gibbs, Geoffrey; Ward, Lucy (12 February 2000). "Morgan pledges to heal Labour wounds in Wales". The Guardian. Retrieved 16 June 2024.
- ^ "The Week in the Assembly". BBC News. 18 February 2000. Retrieved 17 June 2024.
- ^ Deans, David (4 June 2024). "Gething says he will win confidence vote". BBC News. Retrieved 15 June 2024.
- ^ a b "Welsh First Minister loses vote of no confidence". Copper Consultancy. 6 June 2024. Retrieved 16 June 2024.
- ^ Minchin, Rod (6 June 2024). "Wales First Minister Vaughan Gething must quit - opposition". South Wales Argus. Retrieved 16 June 2024.
- ^ Brown, Rachael (4 June 2024). "No confidence vote is 'non-binding', says Wales' First Minister Vaughan Gething". Farmers Guardian. Retrieved 16 June 2024.
- ^ Browne, Adrian; Deans, David (5 June 2024). "FM won't quit after losing vote of no confidence". BBC News. Retrieved 16 June 2024.
- ^ Haines, Chris (6 June 2024). "No confidence in First Minister – what happens next?". The Pembrokeshire Herald. Retrieved 16 June 2024.
- ^ "Alun Michael no longer shortest serving First Minister after Northern Ireland FM steps down". Nation.Cymru. 4 February 2022. Retrieved 16 June 2024.
- ^ Watt, Nicholas; Gibbs, Geoffrey (12 May 2000). "Cardiff chaos has put brake on PR, says minister". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 9 August 2024.
- ^ WalesOnline (9 May 2007). "'A holiday in Wales unlikely for newly-retired Blair'". Wales Online. Retrieved 9 August 2024.