Former Firsr Minister, Rhodri Morgan has agreed to serve in a leading role as part of an embryonic ‘yes’ campaign in the run-up to next year’s referendum on Assembly powers.
Mr. Morgan will be Welsh Labour’s representative on an all-party steering group charged with getting the campaign off the ground. He will be joined by Plaid Cymru’s South Wales Central AM Leanne Wood, Preseli Pembrokeshire Conservative AM Paul Davies and Rob Humphries, the former president of the Welsh Liberal Democrats who is director of the Open University in Wales. Party researchers will also sit on the group.
Unlike the referendum in 1997 when a narrow Yes vote resulted in setting up the Assembly, next year’s will not be so much of a “game changer”, the former First Minister argued.
He said: “There are different kinds of referendum. The one in 1975, which was about whether Britain should stay in what was then known as the Common Market or come out, was a big one, as was the last Welsh devolution referendum 13 years ago. That was about whether there should be a democratically elected body sitting in Wales to run Welsh public services or not.
“This time it’s about the extent of the powers the Assembly should have.”
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