Young Wrexham

Welsh Politics

The Welsh Government is devolved, which means certain powers were transferred from the UK central government in Westminster to a Welsh regional government.

• It was formed under the Government of Wales Act 1998, by the Labour government, after a referendum in 1997 in which the Welsh people voted
• The Welsh Government has power to make domestic legislation in Wales, such as laws regarding health, education, agriculture, transport and local government.
• The UK Government looks after other areas such as defence, taxation, pensions and benefits. See the section on UK Politics for more information
• The Welsh Government building, known as the Senedd (the Welsh language word for parliament) was opened in March 2006
• The Welsh Government (WG) is the main body of the National Assembly, similar to the cabinet of the British parliament. The National Assembly for Wales is democratically elected and holds the Welsh Government to account
• WG is made up of the First Minister for Wales, and one minister for each area, such as the Minister for Education and Skills, Minister for Health and Social Services, Minister for Communities and tackling Poverty

The Welsh Government elections

In Wales, as well as voting for a Member of Parliament (MP), there is a separate election where people vote for an Assembly Member (AM).

Each ballot paper has two votes:

1. One is to vote for an AM to represent your constituency, the political area also represented by your MP, for instance Montgomeryshire, or Blaenau Gwent
2. The other vote is to decide on a regional representative. Wales is divided into five regions based on European Union areas, and each region has four AMs

Local Welsh politics

• Each county and city in Wales has a local council. Wales has 22 unitary authorities
• In the same way as there is an election to decide who will be an MP or AM, local elections determine who will become councillors
• Local councils decide upon such things as local education, refuse collection, some social services, local transport, some education spending and young people's services