Welsh Devolution in Perspective

A conference analysing the complex relationship between Wales and the United Kingdom as a whole, and within Europe – is being organised by the British Academy in partnership with The Learned Society of Wales. At the conference - ‘Wales, the United Kingdom and Europe: Welsh Devolution in Perspective’ - key questions to be explored include; what role would a devolved Wales play in the EU? Would Wales need a separate constitutional framework? And what is next for Welsh devolution?

The upcoming referendum on Scottish independence has turned the possibility of further devolution in the United Kingdom into an increasingly important topic. This conference will analyse Welsh devolution from a multitude of perspectives, looking at the historical and social ties between Wales, the rest of the UK and Europe. Speakers will discuss the constitutional future of Wales, Welsh legal identity, the broader European perspective and the unpredictable future of public spending in a further divided nation. 

The conference will bring together academics from different specialisms across the humanities and social sciences to offer expert insights into questions on Welsh governance, public spending and diplomacy within the UK, but also within the EU framework. Policymakers will then take part in a roundtable debate on the overarching question, ‘What next for Welsh devolution?’

The President of the British Academy, Professor Sir Adam Roberts, said: “The prospect of next year's referendum on Scottish independence provokes questions about devolution: Do we need more, or better, devolution? And do we need it in Wales? This is an increasingly interesting and important debate. Working with the Learned Society of Wales, it is our shared hope that academic expertise from across the humanities and social sciences can offer unique and original insights into the historical, social, political and economic dimensions of Wales' constitutional future.”

‘Wales, the United Kingdom and Europe: Welsh Devolution in Perspective’ is a one-day conference held at the British Academy, London on Friday 31 May 2013.

This conference will be preceded by a linked one-day event, ‘Europeanising Devolution’ in Cardiff on Friday 24 May.

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Notes for Editors:

1. For further press information please contact Kate Rosser-Frost on [email protected]. 

Follow the British Academy on @britac_news

2. The Learned Society of Wales is Wales’s first national scholarly academy.  A registered charity, it was formally established and launched in May 2010.  The Society’s first President is Sir John Cadogan CBE DSc FRSE FRSC PLSW FRS.

The Society’s Mission is:

● to celebrate, recognise, preserve, protect and encourage excellence in all of the scholarly disciplines, and in the professions, industry and commerce, the arts and public service;

● to promote the advancement of learning and scholarship and the dissemination and application of the results of academic enquiry and research; and

● to act as a source of independent and expert scholarly advice and comment on matters affecting the wellbeing of Wales and its people and to advance public discussion and interaction on matters of national and international importance.
http://learnedsocietywales.ac.uk/