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The Royal Commission on the Constitution, also referred to as the Kilbrandon Commission (initially the Crowther Commission) or Kilbrandon Report, was a long-running royal commission set up by Harold Wilson's Labour government to examine the structures of the constitution of the United Kingdom and the government of its constituent countries, and to consider whether any changes should be made to those structures. It was started under Lord Crowther on 15 April 1969, Lord Kilbrandon took over in 1970, and it finally reported on 31 October 1973. Various models of devolution, federalism and confederalism were considered, as well as the prospect of the division of the UK into separate sovereign states. Northern Ireland, the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man were dealt with separately from the core issue of Scotland and Wales. A total of 16 volumes of evidence and 10 research papers were published between 1969 and 1973. The final report was delivered to Ted Heath's Conservative government, which had come to power at the general election in June 1970. The report rejected the options of independence or federalism, in favour of devolved, directly-elected Scottish and Welsh assemblies. Two members of the Commission, Lord Crowther-Hunt and Professor Alan Peacock, did not sign the report, disagreeing with the interpretation of the terms of reference and the conclusions. Their views were published in a separate Memorandum of Dissent •.
Background The royal commission was set up in response to growing demands for home rule or full independence for Wales and Scotland, which came into public focus after the ground-breaking by-election wins of Plaid Cymru's Gwynfor Evans at the Carmarthen by-election, 1966, and the Scottish National Party's Winnie Ewing in Hamilton in 1967. Consequences The final report formed the basis of the 1974 white paper Democracy and Devolution: proposals for Scotland and Wales, which in turn led directly to the unsuccessful Scotland and Wales Act, the passing of the Scotland Act 1978 and Wales Act 1978, and the post-legislative 1979 Scottish and Welsh devolution referendums, which led to the repeal of the respective acts. Scottish and Welsh devolution was finally implemented by the Scotland Act 1998 and the Government of Wales Act 1998. Reference See also | ||||||||
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