In the last decade the UK has gone through a series of changes affecting its institutional and administrative structure. The so-called 'devolution' from London to home nations (Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales as well as England) has been implemented in parallel with the coming to power of Irish, Scottish and Welsh nationalists.

A milestone year regarding devolution of self-government to Wales was 1997, when Welsh people voted in a referendum in favour of setting up a National Assembly similar to that established in Scotland one year before, though with fewer powers than the latter. However, it was not until the Government of Wales Act was passed in 2006 that the country could provide itself with an institutional structure capable of bringing about some degree of self-government. The Government of Wales Act allowed the National Assembly to have powers in order to pass measures or Welsh laws, which so far could only be approved by the UK Parliament. It also included a provision requiring a referendum on full law-making powers for the Assembly. In spite of this, the Welsh assembly does not have full powers on most of the matters. See Wales' devolved powers here.

One year after the 2006 Government of Wales Act the main pro-independence Welsh party, Plaid Cymru ("the Party of Wales"), scored its best results in recent years obtaining 15 seats out of 60, 3 more than those obtained in the previous election. The increase in seats allowed the pro- sovereignty party to enter government alongside the Welsh Labour Party after signing the One Wales agreement which included the possibility of a referendum to extend powers and put Welsh self-government on an equal footing with Scotland.

As regards Welsh, the country's own language, its current situation is substantially much better than other Celtic languages such as Scottish and Irish Gaelic or Breton. Welsh is spoken by approximately 510.000 to 600.000 people, enjoys equal status with English and is taught in school. There is a strong movement that seeks to preserve it and promote it. The language was back in the headlines recently as it gained official status in the EU Council of Ministers. It is the fourth non-state language in acquiring such status, after Catalan, Galician and Basque. See the article at Eurolang.

See the Wales profile for further information.

Photo: Wales flag, from freefoto.com.