A row has broken out between the Arts Council of England and the Assembly Government of Wales over what the English see as an attempt to impose political controls on the Welsh Arts Council. The Welsh Assembly wants to begin funding the largest arts groups in Wales directly, rather than allowing the Arts Council to divide up grants, and assembly members recently forced out the chairman of the Arts Council, who was speaking out against the plan. The Assembly would reportedly like to abolish the Arts Council altogether, but lacks the legal authority to do so. Instead, the planned funding transition would effectively strip the council of nearly all of its functions, while leaving it technically intact.