File B3/3 - Fourth Memorandum of the Council for Wales and Monmouthshire and the Reply of the Prime Minister

The Council for Wales and Monmouthshire was established by the Attlee government in May 1949 (as an alternative to a Welsh Secretary of State) as a nominated advisory council, but was denied any statutory powers. Its first chairman was the influential north Wales trade union leader Dr Huw T. Edwards. The Council produced detailed reports on the problems facing Wales, and consistently pressed for extended functions for government departments in Wales. The Council's publication Government Administration in Wales: Third Memorandum of the Council for Wales and Monmouthshire, Cmnd. 53 (HMSO, 1957) (the product of two years' intensive work) reopened the discussion on the Labour Party's position on Welsh devolution. Edwards resigned as chairman of the Council in 1958 and joined Plaid Cymru, in response to the lack of enthusiasm in the Labour Party for any separate powers for Wales. Nevertheless, the report paved the way for the inclusion of a policy commitment on the appointment of a Secretary of State for Wales in the 1959 Labour Party manifesto. Following Edwards's resignation, the Council was reconstituted, but thereafter declined in importance, although it remained in existence until 1966, when the post of Secretary of State for Wales was created by the Labour government.