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| Act of Senedd Cymru | |
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| Long title | An Act of Senedd Cymru to make provision about Members of the Senedd and offices held by those Members; Senedd Cymru constituencies; returning and maintaining Senedd Cymru; the Local Democracy and Boundary Commission for Wales; and for connected purposes. |
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| Citation | 2024 asc 4 |
| Introduced by | Mick Antoniw MS,Counsel General and Minister for the Constitution |
| Dates | |
| Royal assent | 24 June 2024 |
| Other legislation | |
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Status: Current legislation | |
| Text of statute as originally enacted | |
| Text of the Senedd Cymru (Members and Elections) Act 2024 as in force today (including any amendments) within the United Kingdom, fromlegislation.gov.uk. | |
TheSenedd Cymru (Members and Elections) Act 2024 (sometimes referred to as theSenedd Reform Act) is anact of Senedd Cymru expanding and reforming theSenedd (Welsh Parliament;Welsh:Senedd Cymru) inWales. Provisions of the act include creatingsixteen larger constituencies, each electing sixmembers of the Senedd (MSs) byproportional representation.
The bill was introduced to the Senedd on 18 September 2023,[1] receivedroyal assent on 24 June 2024, and the changes it makes to the Senedd's electoral system will be introduced in the2026 Senedd election.
TheRichard Commission report of 2004 suggested an increase in the number of Members to 80. That number was also suggested, as a minimum, by the 2014 report of theSilk Commission.[2] Similarly, in 2013 and 2016, theElectoral Reform Society published reports making the case for enlarging the Assembly.[3][4] A 2017 report of an expert commission led byLaura McAllister suggested an increase to between 80 and 90 Members, switching tosingle transferable vote (STV) and enforcinggender quotas. There was no cross-party consensus, however, on any of these measures in 2017.[2]
As part of the2021 co-operation agreement betweenWelsh Labour andPlaid Cymru, the parties agreed on an expansion of the Senedd to between 80 and 100 Members and a more proportional voting method, one that integrates gender quotas. Paragraph 22 also asked for recommendations to be made by the Special Purpose Committee by 31 May 2022, and aimed to pass legislation in the ensuing 12 to 18 months so that the it can be applied for the next election in 2026.[5]
A Special Committee was set up on 6 October 2021, composed of five members representing each party, as well as theLlywydd of the Senedd. They held public and private meetings on the issues.[6] In May 2022, a joint position statement was published byFirst MinisterMark Drakeford and Plaid Cymru LeaderAdam Price, and sent to the Special Committee. In it, they called for a 96-Member Senedd, all elected throughclosed party listproportional representation (using theD'Hondt method) with mandatory "zipping" of male and female candidates in the list to ensure that for every party, half of the candidates will be women (unlike the voluntaryall-women shortlists used by theLabour Party).[7] With a reduction in the number of Welsh MPs and new constituency boundaries being proposed for the next UK general election,[8] the Senedd elections were proposed to be organised in 16 six-member regions created by pairing up the 32 redrawn Westminster constituencies.[7]
The final report of the Special Committee was published on 30 May 2022 and recommended the system agreed to by the Labour and Plaid Cymru leaders.[9][10] Although the Expert Panel preferred thesingle transferable vote to any other method, the closed list PR system was favoured by the Committee over its capacity to enforce gender quotas through mandatory zipping, although the gender quotas rule was later abandoned.[9] The report was discussed in plenary session on 8 June 2022, and approved 40–15.[11]
In February 2023, plans for additional reform included:
In September 2023, it was also proposed job sharing among Welsh Government ministers also be considered.[13]
Welsh Conservatives have opposed the Senedd's expansion plan, which they fear would be costly, and have called for a referendum, arguing that only a public mandate can give legitimacy to such a reform.[14] In 2022 the sentiment was also expressed by the ConservativeUK GovernmentWelsh SecretarySimon Hart.[15] His deputy, Conservative MPDavid TC Davies, told his party conference that the reform plan would "lock in a Labour government forever" and "concentrate power in the hands of a few party managers".[16]
On 10 May 2022, Conservative MSDarren Millar, resigned from the Committee in disagreement to the Drakeford-Price joint statement, saying "Wales needs more doctors, dentists, nurses and teachers, not more politicians in Cardiff Bay".[10] The additional annual cost of the proposals was estimated as £17.8 million.[17]
On 18 September 2023, the Welsh Government published its plans for electoral reform as part of the proposed Senedd Cymru (Members and Elections) Bill.[18][19][20] The number of Senedd constituencies is set to fall to 16, which would be pairings of the proposed 32 constituencies in Wales for Westminster elections. Each constituency would elect six MSs from a closed list under theD'Hondt method. Under the proposals, all candidates must live in Wales, and elections would take place every four years, rather than five. The first minister is proposed to have the power to appoint 17 rather than the current 12 ministers, plus the counsel general, to the Welsh Government, and the number of ministers could be increased to 18/19, pending further Senedd approval. There is also the addition of another deputy presiding officer.[18]
The Bill was passed by a supermajority of MSs on 8 May 2024 with the entire Conservative Party voting against and every other party in favour.[21]
The Bill did not take forward the proposals to enshrine a gender balanced Senedd in law amid doubts over the whether the Senedd has the power to pass such a law under the existing devolution settlement.[22] These changes were eventually introduced in the Senedd Cymru (Electoral Candidate Lists) Bill on 11 March 2024,[23] but abandoned in September 2024.[24]
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