REFERENDUM ON ESTABLISHMENT OF A WELSH ASSEMBLY
18 September 1997

The Government's proposals for a Welsh Assembly were as follows (from the White Paper A Voice for Wales):

• A 60-member assembly to be elected in May 1999, with 40 members each representing a constituency to be elected by majority vote and the remaining 20 members to be elected by proportional representation on the basis of party political lists; elections to be held every four years
• The assembly to have no tax-raising powers but to have powers to pass secondary legislation
• A leader to be elected from the majority party to chair an executive committee of ten
• The Queen to open the assembly
• The cost of establishing the assembly to be about �12-�15 million, and the annual running costs to be about �20 million
• The assembly to take over the Welsh Office' �7 billion budget; the Welsh Office civil servants to service the assembly
• The Government to abolish nine quangos after the passage of substantive legislation, and the assembly to review those remaining

The result of the referendum was: