Wales Act 2014

Act of Parliament
Parliament of the United Kingdom
Long title	An Act to make provision about elections to and membership of the National Assembly for Wales; to make provision about the Welsh Assembly Government; to make provision about the setting by the Assembly of rates of income tax to be paid by Welsh taxpayers and about the devolution of taxation powers to the Assembly; to make related amendments to Part 4A of the Scotland Act 1998; to make provision about borrowing by the Welsh Ministers; to make miscellaneous amendments in the law relating to Wales; and for connected purposes.
Citation	2014 c. 29
Introduced by	David Jones MP,Secretary of State for Wales (Commons) Baroness Randerson (Lords)
Territorial extent	United Kingdom
Dates
Royal assent	17 December 2014
Other legislation
Amends	Government of Wales Act 1998 Government of Wales Act 2006
Amended by	Wales Act 2017
Status: Amended
Text of statute as originally enacted
Revised text of statute as amended

TheWales Act 2014^[1] (c. 29) is anact of theParliament of the United Kingdom.

The bill was introduced to theHouse of Commons on 20 March 2014^[2] byChief Secretary to the Treasury,Danny Alexander andSecretary of State for Wales,David Jones.^[3] The purpose of the bill was to implement some of the recommendations of theSilk Commission aimed atdevolving further powers from theUnited Kingdom toWales.

It passed the final hurdles in Parliament and receivedRoyal assent on 17 December 2014, becoming law.^[4]

The act's provisions include the following:^[1]

• Devolvingstamp duty,business rates andlandfill tax to Wales and enabling theWelsh Assembly to replace them with new taxes specific to Wales.^[5] Further taxes can also be devolved, with the agreement of the UK Parliament and the Welsh Assembly.
• Providing for areferendum in Wales on whether an element ofincome tax should be devolved. If there is a vote in favour then the Welsh Assembly will be able to set a Welsh income tax rate. Fluctuations in revenues will be managed by new borrowing powers for Welsh Ministers.
• Extending Welsh Assembly terms permanently from four to five years in order to reduce the chance of Assembly elections clashing with general elections to the Westminster Parliament as a result of theFixed-term Parliaments Act 2011.
• Removing the prohibition on candidates in Welsh Assembly elections from standing in a constituency and also being on the regional list.
• ProhibitingWelsh Assembly Members from also being MPs (seedual mandate).
• Formally changing the Welsh Assembly Government’s name to theWelsh Government.
• Clarifying the position of theFirst Minister between dissolution of the Assembly and an Assembly election.
• Allowing Welsh Ministers to set a limit for the amount of housing debt that individual local housing authorities in Wales may hold. The UKTreasury will limit the total Welsh housing debt.
• Requiring theLaw Commission to provide advice and information to Welsh Ministers on thelaw reform matters that they referred to the Commission.

• Welsh devolution
• Commission on Devolution in Wales
• St David's Day Agreement
• Wales Act 2017
• Government of Wales Act 2006

• legislation.gov.uk Wales Act 2014

• United Kingdom Acts of Parliament 2014
• Government of Wales
• Senedd
• Constitutional laws of Wales
• Acts of the Parliament of the United Kingdom concerning Wales
• Welsh devolution
• 2014 in British politics
• 2014 in Wales
• December 2014 in the United Kingdom

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