Vote 2011 awareness campaign gathers pace as Referendum Order passed
10 November 2010
Assembly Members have unanimously agreed to the Order that sets up the referendum on the future legislative powers of the National Assembly for Wales.
It sets the date of the poll for 3 March 2011 and also the question that voters will see on the ballot paper.
In addition, the Order outlines the arrangements for holding the poll. The rules of the campaign, including the amounts which the designated ‘Yes’ and ‘No’ campaigns (for and against further powers for the National Assembly), and other “permitted participants”, will be allowed to spend are governed by the Political Parties, Elections and Referendums Act 2000.
In addition, particular rules relating to campaigning during the 28-day period leading up to the referendum are set out in the Act.
The National Assembly for Wales is continuing with a public information campaign to provide objective and non-partisan information to Welsh voters about this referendum, as well as the other two votes they face at the ballot box next year.
2011 is a year when:
-A referendum will be held on 3 March to ask whether the National Assembly should have increased law-making powers;
-On 5 May, there will be the National Assembly election to decide who should represent us in the Senedd in Cardiff Bay;
-On the same day as the Assembly elections, we’ll be asked whether we should elect our MPs at Westminster through a more proportional system of voting.
“It’s a very important year for us all next year,” said Presiding Officer, Lord Dafydd Elis-Thomas AM.
“We are going to be asked to not only choose who represents us in the Senedd but also whether those elected representatives should have more powers to make Welsh laws.
“That’s why we want to get to every part of Wales beforehand to make sure that the people of Wales have as much impartial information as possible in order to make their choice.
The Assembly’s Outreach bus is already on a tour of the 22 local authority areas in Wales.
The Presiding Officer will also be attending three key outreach events in North, Mid and South Wales to spread the “get out and vote” message.
The Assembly will also be working closely with voluntary organisations and other stakeholders, through sessions in the Pierhead in Cardiff Bay, to reach as wide an audience as possible.
A second Order was also agreed this afternoon.
This Order brings Schedule 7 of the Government of Wales Act 2006 up to date. This is the part of the Act which sets out in detail the subjects over which the Assembly will have power to make laws in the event of a ‘Yes’ vote, and needs to be updated to take account of developments in the Assembly’s existing powers since 2006.
Both Orders now have to be agreed by both Houses of Parliament in Westminster before the poll can take place on the date outlined above.
If agreed in the two chambers, the referendum will take place on 3 March 2011. The “referendum period”, during which restrictions on the level of spending on the campaign apply, will begin when the Referendum Order is formally made. Special rules relating to campaigning will apply to the “relevant period”, which is the 28 day period leading up to the referendum, beginning in early February.
For further details about the referendum question visit: Referendum order.
A paper, produced by the Assembly's Members' Research Service, on steps to a referendum on further powers.
Vote 2011 - Assembly microsite