Papers reveal Blair said voters had no appetite for more Welsh powers

Tony Blair believed his Labour government had defeated the threat of a breakup of the UK by delivering devolution to Wales and Scotland, newly released documents reveal.

Rejecting calls in 2004 for the then-Welsh Assembly to have full law-making powers, he said voters in Wales and Scotland had "no appetite" for more powers and that his government had "lanced the boil of separatism".

The then-prime minister made the comments during a significant government cabinet discussion on further devolution for Wales - the minutes of which have just been released.

Blair, who backed the setting up of the assembly in 1997, agreed with a proposal for limited law-making powers for Cardiff Bay politicians.

The UK government cabinet debate on more Welsh devolution, as proposed by the Richard Commission, has been unveiled in newly released papers from the National Archives.

In 2004, a commission chaired by Labour peer Lord Ivor Richard made several recommendations including primary law-making powers for the assembly - but at the time there was significant Welsh Labour opposition to further devolution.

The Richard Commission was discussed in 10 Downing Street on 22 July 2004, with the meeting led by the then-Secretary of States for Wales Peter Hain, who outlined proposals for a more limited extension of powers.

Hain laid out some of the arguments against full primary law-making powers for Welsh assembly, saying: "There was no consensus in Wales for radical change. What Wales needed was better administration, not extra powers for the National Assembly."

According to the minutes, Hain said the proposals in the commission were a "minimalist solution and the least worst available" if the UK government was to head off a severe split among its supporters in Wales.

Concluding the cabinet discussion on the issue, the note recorded Blair saying the cabinet had rejected the commission's "more far-reaching proposals" of allowing Wales to make primary legislation.

"There was no appetite in Wales for a further referendum on devolution and this provided a brake on such a radical change most people, both in Scotland and Wales, were satisfied with the devolution settlement, which had lanced the boil of separatism," he said.

The minutes say the cabinet "took note" of Blair's summing up of the discussion.

On becoming prime minister in 1997, Blair committed New Labour to set up a 60-member Welsh assembly which would take over responsibility for a £7bn budget from the UK cabinet's Welsh secretary.

The National Assembly for Wales opened in 1999 and from the very start there was a big debate if the powers it had to run the NHS, education and councils were sufficient.

Legislation passed in March 2006 allowed the assembly to make laws in areas in which it was responsible, provided it got permission from both Houses of Parliament.

That 2006 legislation included the option of full law-making powers in devolved areas, provided it was backed in a referendum.

In March 2011, Welsh voters backed direct assembly law-making powers in a referendum by 63.5% to 36.5% on a turnout of 35.4%.

This is a significant internal UK Labour government cabinet discussion over the future of devolution in Wales.

Welsh issues rarely get a mention in these high-level meetings at the centre of government - but this was different.

The then-Welsh secretary had difficult job to do walking the tightrope in trying to keep Labour politicians happy at both ends of the M4.

The compromise which arose did not rule out Welsh law-making powers for ever – that happened in 2011.

But was Blair correct in saying he'd "lanced the boil of separatism"?

The arguments over independence for Wales and Scotland haven't gone away – Scotland of course had an independence referendum in 2014, and Plaid Cymru are currently vying for the lead in the opinion polls.

And another thing that hasn't gone away - differing views, sometimes fiercely expressed - within the Labour Party over whether powers should lie in Cardiff or London.