In 1997 Wales voted in favour of devolution by a margin of 50.3%, one of the narrowest victories in British electoral history. Two areas in the country that carried the yes vote were Carmarthenshire and the south Wales valleys, both locations with their own recognisable identities. Carmarthen was the first constituency in Wales to elect a Plaid Cymru MP, the party’s leader Gwynfor Evans, in 1966. Many of the county’s inhabitants regarded Carmarthenshire as part of Y Fro Cymraeg, the Welsh-speaking heartland. The valleys, with its historical tradition of workers’ institutes and mutualism was no less a heartland, one where English was spoken more frequently than the Welsh language, Cymraeg. In each instance a place strongly associated with a distinct form of Welshness voted in favour of devolution.
My history of Wales, Brittle With Relics, concludes with the vote in favour of devolution and begins 35 years earlier, with a radio speech that warned Cymraeg would become extinct unless some form of radical, extra-parliamentary action was undertaken. It examines the tensions and arguments within Wales over what constituted Welsh identity during the period and the manner in which these arguments were buffeted by economic and political forces beyond the country’s control.
