‘Pushing at a closed door’: The 1998 welsh local government review and its implications for electing welsh councils

In March 1998 the Welsh Office launched a Green Paper on ‘Local Democracy and Community Leadership’. After an extensive consultation period a White Paper (July 1998) was issued which appeared to leave the door open for further changes to the electoral system. Yet, since this date, the issue of reforming the Welsh electoral system has remained dormant. This paper examines the drive towards modernising electoral arrangements. It discusses the main problems associated with local government electoral system in Wales, what respondents to the Green Paper saw as solutions and how the White Paper sought to deal with them. It concludes by examining the reasons why electoral reform in Wales appears to have been put on the back‐burner.