Wales Decides: `Yes' by a whisker. Now the deals begin

Wales voted `Yes' to devolution by a whisker, but it was big enough to give Tony Blair the mandate for reform. Tony Heath describes the nail- biting climax, and Colin Brown, Chief Political Correspondent, says it could encourage opponents in the Commons and the Lords.

Tony Blair promised to "respond to the fears" about change, but made it clear that the Scotland and Wales devolution Bills would begin on time in November, in spite of winning a "yes" vote by the narrowest of margins in the Welsh referendum.

The result was in the balance, until final vote from Carmarthenshire swung it in favour of "yes". The figures were 559,419 (50.3 per cent) to 552,698 (49.7 per cent), a majority of just 6,721 (0.6 per cent). Only 25 per cent of the total electorate in Wales voted "yes" and Cardiff, the Welsh capital, where the Assembly will be based, voted "no".

The narrowness of the vote provided something for all sides to take from the referendum. Mr Blair stayed in Downing Street, and looked more relieved than elated in contrast to his triumphant celebration a week earlier in Edinburgh for the overwhelming Scottish "yes" vote. A defeat would have been a body blow to his reforms, and it could have meant the sack for Ron Davies, the Secretary of State for Wales.

William Hague, the Conservative leader, said it was a "very stark warning to the Government about the dangers of what they are doing to this country. It shows the danger of dividing Wales. We have seen the country split down the middle. I hope they will stop and think what they are doing before they bring any legislation to the House of Commons".

The "no" campaigners said that they would have won if the referendum had been held on the same night as the Scottish poll. John Redwood, the former Tory Secretary of State for Wales, said it would act as a "check on Blair's ambitions".

Lord Stoddart, a Labour peer and opponent of devolution, said a majority of 0.6 per cent was "not good enough - even the National Union of Mineworkers requires 55 to 45 per cent before going on strike, damn it". Lord Archer, the Tory peer, said the Lords would stick to the Salisbury principle of not blocking the legislation, but it would take a different view of the Scottish and Welsh bills, because of the results.

Some of the six Labour rebel MPs who supported the "no" campaign were unrepentant, although Llew Smith was facing a difficult meeting with his Blaenau Gwent constituency.

Mr Blair said that moves to create a Welsh assembly would carry on while the Government concentrated on "allaying the fears of people that were expressed during the campaign and making sure we show them this is a sensible measure of decentralisation".

He said: "It was right to give people a say. They voted in favour of it. We are delighted with the result. But it is important that we respond to the fears that were expressed by people."

Downing Street officials emphasised that the majority would not stop the devolution Bills. "A majority of one would have been enough," one source said.

An intriguing aspect of the result was the coming together of sizeable "yes" votes in the old industrial areas of South Wales and the Welsh-speaking rural counties of the north and west.

Whoever decided to book the Welsh College of Music and Drama as the nerve centre for the referendum count made an inspired choice. The night was replete with nail-biting tension - a political thriller la Hitchcock.

Initially, anti-devolution votes piled up in rural areas along the English border. Then some Labour strongholds in the south tilted the balance. But Newport and Cardiff waded in with big "no" votes.

Then at 3.40 yesterday morning the chief counting officer, Professor Eric Sunderland, a former vice-chancellor of the University of Wales announced that Carmarthenshire had delivered sufficient "yes" votes to see the devolution proposals approved.

The margin prompted Cardiff to take on the look of Catalonia rejoicing - albeit in the rain. The strains of the Welsh National anthem wafted through the streets. Flags and glasses were raised. Sian Lloyd, ITV's glamour weather girl, wept tears of joy.

No one was happier than the Secretary of State. Linking arms with his ministerial colleagues Peter Hain and Wyn Griffiths, Liberal Democrat MP Richard Livsey and Plaid Cymru leader Dafydd Wigley MP, Mr Davies praised the co-operation that had turned a 4-1 quote "no" vote in the 1979 referendum into a slim victory.