Letter: Welsh Referendum

Sir: William Hague is wrong to say that the referendum "split" Wales "down the middle" (report, 20 September).

What the result of the referendum shows is that Wales was already split. For a multiplicity of reasons - ranging from the Anglo-Norman settlement of the border lands and the coastal plains, to the industrialisation of the southern valleys and the sheer difficulty of communication in such a mountainous terrain - Wales has long been divided between the Welsh- speaking west and north and the anglicised south and east.

What is remarkable is that, in a country which has been under English control for seven centuries, so many still have the vision and enough sense of Welshness to vote for an assembly. This assembly will give to Wales for the first time a forum for representatives from all parts of the country to share ideas and work together to bring greater harmony, confidence and prosperity to all the people of wales.

B Grodecka Lewis

Wells, Somerset