Â鶹Éç

Â鶹Éç BLOGS - Betsan's Blog
« Previous | Main | Next »

D Day

Betsan Powys | 09:17 UK time, Friday, 4 March 2011

They've cast their vote - and if you chose to use it, so have you. Meet four of our People's Assembly members. On day one of the short campaign they were in the Senedd, explaining to Radio Wales listeners why they were undecided which way to go in yesterday's referendum.

Today they were back. The three on the right : Rebecca Wasinski, Linda Bennett and Gareth Protheroe eventually decided to vote 'No. Aled Morris went the other way and voted 'Yes'. All the signs are that the opinion polls were right and that it's Aled who'll be on the winning side.

If so, then let's be clear about what this means: when the debate around turnout and the complexity of the issue have been had, once the powers flowing from the referendum come into force in Wales, there will be four legislatures in the United Kingdom, each with direct law making powers.

The jigsaw of different policies will become more complicated, the differences potentially more puzzling to citizens.

Verification of the votes is underway. Counting begins at 11.

I'll be broadcasting pretty much non stop from now until late tonight, but I'll be updating you here too with analysis as best I can as it all plays out.

You can follow Â鶹Éç Wales's online live page all day

**1325 UPDATE**

Some thoughts, as I dash from studio to studio!

We're currently sitting somewhere around the 65-35 mark in favour of yes - it could still change as more results come in, but it seems - seems - to be settling around there.

So far, the opinion polls seem to have been bang on the money in predicting the result - ICM, YouGov and others, take a bow.

As far as turnout prediction is concerned, perhaps not so good, but it's that headline figure which will have the pollsters smiling.

As I write, Newport has come back as a Yes, which will have campaigners there who've been frowning a lot in recent weeks smiling too.

Just who's responsible for the Yes camp's smiles across Wales is already a matter of competition between the parties of course - along with the very useful intelligence about the way the vote is going across the 22 authorities comes the gentle reminder about how hard Party X worked locally and how Party Y really got its vote out. May 5th is not so far off now.

Also smiling is Tory leader Nick Bourne - the results we have so far, as well as our ICM poll would seem to show that Conservative voters opposed to further powers seem to have stayed at home. And the quiet prediction from some Westminster Tories that North Wales could be more No than Yes has been comprehensively refuted.

On we go!

Comments

or to comment.

Â鶹Éç iD

Â鶹Éç navigation

Â鶹Éç © 2014 The Â鶹Éç is not responsible for the content of external sites. Read more.

This page is best viewed in an up-to-date web browser with style sheets (CSS) enabled. While you will be able to view the content of this page in your current browser, you will not be able to get the full visual experience. Please consider upgrading your browser software or enabling style sheets (CSS) if you are able to do so.