Senedd Cymru Welsh Parliament | |
|---|---|
| 6th Senedd | |
 | |
| Type | |
| Type | |
| History | |
| Founded | 12 May 1999 |
| Preceded by | Welsh Office (1965–1999) |
New session started | 6 May 2021 |
| Leadership | |
Charles III since 8 September 2022 | |
| Structure | |
| Seats | 60[b] |
 | |
Political groups | Government (30) Opposition (30)
|
| Elections | |
| Additional-member system (until 2026) Party-list proportional representation (closed list) (from 2026)[3] | |
Last election | 6 May 2021 |
Next election | On or before 7 May 2026 |
| Meeting place | |
 | |
| Siambr (debating chamber) in theSenedd building,Cardiff,Wales | |
 | |
| Website | |
senedd | |
TheSenedd (/ˈsɛnɛð/ ⓘSEN-edh;lit. 'parliament' or'senate'), officially known as theWelsh Parliament inEnglish andSenedd Cymru ([ˈsɛnɛðˈkəmrɨ]) inWelsh,[4] is thedevolved,unicamerallegislature ofWales. A democratically elected body, it makes laws for Wales, agrees to certain taxes, and scrutinises theWelsh Government.[5] It is a bilingual institution, with both Welsh and English being the official languages of its business.[6] From its creation in May 1999 until May 2020, the Senedd was officially known as theNational Assembly for Wales (Cynulliad Cenedlaethol Cymru) and was often simply called theWelsh Assembly.[7]
The Senedd comprises 60 members who are known asmembers of the Senedd (Aelodau o'r Senedd),[8] abbreviated as "MS" (Welsh:AS).[9] Since 2011, members are elected for a five-yearterm of office under anAdditional-member system, in which 40 MSs represent smaller geographical divisions known as"constituencies" and are elected byfirst-past-the-post voting, and 20 MSs representfive "electoral regions" using theD'Hondt method ofproportional representation. Typically, the largest party in the Senedd forms the Welsh Government.
A National Assembly for Wales was created by theGovernment of Wales Act 1998, following the result of the1997 referendum. The Assembly initially had no powers to makeprimary legislation. Limited law-making powers were gained through theGovernment of Wales Act 2006. Its primary law-making powers were enhanced following a Yes vote in thereferendum on 3 March 2011, meaning that theUK Parliament or theSecretary of State for Wales were no longer consulted when passingacts of the National Assembly for Wales related to the20 devolved areas.[10] These powers were further extended by theWales Act 2014 andWales Act 2017, with the latter moving the Assembly to a reserved powers model of devolution like that of the Scottish Parliament. In May 2020, the Assembly was renamed to "Senedd Cymru" or "the Welsh Parliament" when section 2 of theSenedd and Elections (Wales) Act 2020 came into force. The Senedd's powers in economic matters are significantly restricted by theUK Internal Market Act 2020,[11] a primary purpose of which is to constrain the capacity of the devolved institutions to use their regulatory autonomy.[12] Matters devolved to the Senedd include health, education, economic development, transport, the environment, agriculture, local government and some taxes.
| This article is part ofa series within the Politics of the United Kingdom on the |
| Politics of Wales |
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History
Principal councils (leader list)Corporate Joint Committees
see also:Regional terms andRegional economy |
An appointedCouncil for Wales and Monmouthshire was established in 1949 to "ensure the government is adequately informed of the impact of government activities on the general life of the people of Wales". The council had 27 members nominated by local authorities in Wales, theUniversity of Wales,National Eisteddfod Council and theWelsh Tourist Board. A post of Minister of Welsh Affairs was created in 1951 and the post ofSecretary of State for Wales and theWelsh Office were established in 1964 leading to the abolition of the Council for Wales. The establishment of the Welsh Office effectively created the basis for the territorial governance of Wales.[13] TheRoyal Commission on the Constitution (the Kilbrandon Commission) was set up in 1969 byHarold Wilson's Labour Government to investigate the possibility of devolution for Scotland and Wales.[14] Its recommendations formed the basis of the 1974White paperDemocracy and Devolution: proposals for Scotland and Wales,[14] which proposed the creation of a Welsh Assembly. However, Welsh voters overwhelmingly rejected the proposals in areferendum held in 1979.[14][15]
Following the1997 general election, the new Labour Government argued that an Assembly would be more democratically accountable than theWelsh Office. For eleven years prior to 1997 Wales had been represented in theCabinet of the United Kingdom by aSecretary of State who did not represent a Welsh constituency atWestminster.[16] Areferendum was held in Wales on 18 September 1997 in which voters approved the creation of the National Assembly for Wales with a total of 559,419 votes, or 50.3% of the vote.[17]
The following year theGovernment of Wales Act was passed by theUnited Kingdom parliament, establishing the Assembly. On 1 July 1999 the powers of the Secretary of State for Wales were transferred to the Assembly and the Welsh Office ceased to exist.[18]
In July 2002, theWelsh Government established anindependent commission, withLord Richard (former leader of theHouse of Lords) as chair, to review the powers and electoral arrangements of the National Assembly to ensure that it is able to operate in the best interests of the people of Wales.[19] The Richard Commission reported in March 2004. It recommended that the National Assembly should have powers to legislate in certain areas, whilst others would remain the preserve of Westminster.[19] It also recommended changing the electoral system to thesingle transferable vote (STV) which would produce greaterproportionality.[19]
In response, the British government, in itsBetter Governance for Wales White Paper, published on 15 June 2005, proposed a more permissive law-making system for the Welsh Assembly based on the use of Parliamentary Orders in Council.[20][21] In so doing, the Government rejected many of the cross party Richard Commission's recommendations. This has attracted criticism from opposition parties and others.[citation needed]
TheGovernment of Wales Act 2006 receivedRoyal assent on 25 July 2006. It conferred on the Assembly legislative powers similar to otherdevolved legislatures through the ability to passAssembly Measures concerning matters that are devolved. Requests for further legislative powers made throughlegislative competence requests were subject to the veto of theSecretary of State for Wales,House of Commons orHouse of Lords.
The Act reformed the assembly to a parliamentary-type structure, establishing theWelsh Government as an entity separate from, but accountable to the National Assembly. It enables the Assembly to legislate within its devolved fields.
The Act also reforms the Assembly's electoral system. It prevents individuals from standing as candidates in both constituency and regional seats. This aspect of the act was subject to a great deal of criticism[citation needed], most notably from theElectoral Commission.[citation needed], although it was supported in the Richard Commission[19]
The Act was heavily criticised[citation needed].Plaid Cymru, the Official Opposition in the National Assembly from 1999 to 2007, attacked it[citation needed] for not delivering a fully-fledged parliament. Many commentators[who?] have also criticised the Labour Party's allegedly partisan attempt to alter the electoral system. By preventing regional Members from standing in constituency seats the party has been accused[by whom?] of changing the rules to protect constituency representatives. Labour had 29 members in the Assembly at the time, all of whom held constituency seats.[citation needed]
The changes to the Assembly's powers were commenced on 4 May 2007, after theelection.[22]
Following areferendum on 3 March 2011, the Welsh Assembly gained direct law making powers, without the need to consult Westminster.
TheConservative-Liberal coalition government created theCommission on Devolution in Wales (also known as Silk Commission), composed of members nominated by the 4 parties represented in the Welsh Assembly and several leading legal and political experts, to "create a lasting devolution settlement for Wales". Following the first set of recommendations by the Commission, the UK government announced in November 2013 that some borrowing powers are to be devolved to the Assembly along with control of landfill tax and stamp duty. Additionally theWales Act 2014 provides for a referendum to be held on the Assembly's ability to set a degree ofincome tax,[23] though there is a proposal for the requirement for a referendum to be removed.
Both the UK and Welsh governments supported the Silk Commission (Part 2) proposal to move to a "reserved powers" model of devolution (similar to that of theScottish Parliament and theNorthern Ireland Assembly) where the UK government would have specific "reserved" powers and the Welsh Assembly would have control of all other matters.[24][25] This replaced the previous model where certain powers were "conferred" and all others were assumed to be powers of the UK national government. Since the passing of theWales Act 2017, the power model in Wales has been in line with that of Scotland, being a reserved matter model.[26]
TheWales Act 2017, based on the second set of recommendations of the Silk Commission, proposed devolving further areas of government, including some relating to water, marine affairs (ports, harbours, conservation), energy (subsidies, petroleum extraction, construction of smaller energy-generating facilities, etc.), rail franchising and road travel.[27]
In July 2016, Assembly members unanimously agreed that the name of the Assembly should reflect its constitutional status as a national parliament.[28] TheAssembly Commission ran a public consultation on the proposal, which showed that 61% of respondents agreed or strongly agreed that the Assembly should change its name.[29] In 2018, the commission announced its intention to introduce legislation to change the name of the Assembly. Later that year, theLlywydd – the Assembly's presiding officer – wrote to all Assembly Members explaining that the name change proposed in the Bill would be the monolingual name Senedd.[30] In 2019, theSenedd and Elections (Wales) Bill, favouring the name Senedd, was introduced on behalf of the Assembly Commission. Following support of a subsequent amendment to the Bill which favoured a bilingual name for the institution, the Bill was passed by the Assembly on 27 November 2019 and was given Royal Assent on 15 January 2020.[31][32] The Act changed the name of the Assembly toSenedd Cymru or theWelsh Parliament. Its guidance states that the institution will be commonly known as the Senedd in both languages. The name change came into effect on 6 May 2020. Members of the renamed body are known as Members of the Senedd (MS), orAelodau o'r Senedd (AS) in Welsh.[33][34]
As part of the process of leaving the European Union, the Conservative Party in power in Westminster passed theUnited Kingdom Internal Market Act 2020. This legislation aims to prevent internal trade barriers within the UK, and to restrict the exercise of legislative powers of the devolved administrations in economic areas.[11] It has several effects on the constitutional arrangements regarding devolved legislative powers. Principal amongst these is the effect that the market access principles will have on the practical ability of the devolved administrations to regulate economic activity.[41][44] It also expressly reserves the regulation of distortive or harmful subsidies to the UK Government, and gives them spending powers in numerous policymaking areas.[35][41]
These powers undermine the authority of the Senedd to determine infrastructure priorities within its jurisdiction. The principles undermine devolved competences in two ways. These relate to its status as a protected enactment, and to the disproportionate market size and power of the economy under English jurisdiction.[35] Because the Senedd will be unable to disapply the market access principles, if they attempt to introduce new or stricter regulatory standards, they will only apply to goods produced within the devolved jurisdiction. This means that these standards will have little or no practical effect other than to disadvantage their own economy, severely restricting their ability to introduce regulatory divergence, or pursue different economic or social choices to those made in Westminster.[41][44]
On 22 November 2021,Welsh Labour and Plaid Cymru agreed a co-operation deal[45] that will see the implementation of 46 policies that the two parties share.[46] One of these is the expansion of the Senedd from 60 Members to between 80 and 100 Members.[47]
At its Conference on 12 March 2022, Welsh Labour unanimously approved increasing the size of the Senedd. "The expansion of the Senedd is essential because the journey of devolution is not yet complete," former First MinisterAlun Michael said. "There is more to come. And the capacity needs to be there for those backbenchers to do the job of holding to account that you rightly said, cannot be done by to smaller number of representatives."[48] Two weeks later, Plaid members backed the expansion proposal as well.[49]
On 10 May 2022, plans to increase the number of MSs from 60 to 96 were unveiled, as well as the scrapping offirst past the post, which is currently used to elect 40 of the 60 Members of the Senedd (MSs). Drakeford said these changes were required as "report after report" had demonstrated that the Senedd in its current form "cannot do the job in the way that people in Wales have a right to expect it to be done".[50] Welsh Lib Dem leaderJane Dodds criticised these plans, claiming that they would disproportionately impact smaller parties.[51]
On 8 June 2022, the Senedd voted 40–14 in favour of expanding the number of MSs.[52]
In 2023, the reform bill committee heard reforms included taking 32 new constituencies created that will be used in the2024 general election and pairing them to create 16 Senedd constituencies – with each returning six members inmulti-member districts.[53] Opposition to the proposedclosed list voting system was expressed by some Labour[54] and Plaid Cymru[55] representatives, while opposition to the overall expansion of the Senedd was expressed by some Labour representatives[56] and the Conservatives.[57]
Thedebating chamber inCardiff Bay, theSenedd (Senate), was designed by theRichard Rogers Partnership, and built byTaylor Woodrow, with environmental, mechanical, electrical and plumbing design by BDSP Partnership. It uses traditional Welsh materials, such as slate andWelsh oak, in its construction, and the design is based around the concepts of openness and transparency. The timber ceiling and centre funnel, manufactured and installed by BCL Timber Projects (sub-contracted by Taylor Woodrow) is made from Canadian sourced Western Red Cedar.
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The Senedd houses the debating chamber known as the Siambr (Welsh:Y Siambr)[58] and Committee Rooms. It was officially opened by QueenElizabeth II onSaint David's Day, 1 March 2006.[59]
The Senedd is designed to be environmentally friendly: it uses an Earth Heat Exchange system for heating; rainwater is collected from the roof and used for flushing toilets and cleaning windows, and the roof features a wind cowl which funnels natural light and air into the debating chamber below.[60]
The building houses the debating chamber and committee rooms for the Senedd. When the Senedd building opened on 1 March 2006, there was regular screening of live proceedings from the Siambr onS4C2 and also oninternet television.[61] Coverage of the S4C2 screenings were on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays between 9:00 am 6:00 pm when the Senedd was sitting.[62] In addition, limited screens were shown on theBBC Two Wales programme"am.pm", includingFirst Minister's Questions.[63] These were decommissioned after S4C2 switched its scheduling to children programs and because of budget cuts.[64] Internet television screenings are now shown on the Senedd's own website called Senedd.tv, which screens approximately 35 hours of content each week inEnglish andWelsh. The service began 15 April 2008.[65] Key events such as First Minister's Questions are shown live and recorded onBBC Parliament on television and oniPlayer. Also on BBC Parliament some proceedings are shown as highlights of the week on the programme The Week in Parliament.
In October 2023,GB News was banned from the Senedd's internal TV system, with a spokesperson for the presiding officer claiming the channel was "deliberately offensive, demeaning to public debate and contrary to our parliament's values".[66]
Between 1999 and 2006, a temporary debating chamber was initially based inTŷ Hywel, next to the site of the present building. The offices of Members are still in this building which is connected to the Senedd by askyway. Tŷ Hywel once again hosts plenary sessions of the Senedd between April 2025 and March 2026 whilst the debating chamber in the Senedd building undergoes refurbishment to increase its capacity in the lead up to thenext Senedd election where the number of members returned is to rise to 96.
TheSenedd Commission is also responsible for thePierhead Building, which is the location of "The Assembly at the Pierhead" exhibition, and is the Visitor and Education Centre for the Senedd as well as housing a small gift shop. The exhibition provides visitors with information on who's who, what's happening and how the Senedd works.
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The Senedd North Wales Office is located at Government Buildings,Llandudno Junction. The office is open to the public to access information about the Senedd on weekdays between 10:00 and 12:00 and 14:00 and 16:00.[67] Previously the office was located at Prince's Park,Colwyn Bay.[68]
After each election, the Senedd elects one Member of the Senedd to serve asLlywydd (Presiding Officer) of the Senedd, and another to serve as Deputy Presiding Officer (Dirprwy Llywydd).Elin Jones,Plaid Cymru MS, has been Llywydd since 2016, having taken over fromRosemary Butler. The Llywydd also acts as Chair of theSenedd Commission. Both the Llywydd and the Deputy Presiding Officer (Dirprwy Lywydd) typically don't vote in simple-majority votes.
The permanent administrative and support staff of the Senedd are employed by the Senedd Commission. They are not civil servants, although they enjoy similar terms and conditions of service to members of theUK Civil Service. The most senior permanent official is thechief executive and clerk, and the position is currently held byManon Antoniazzi.
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The Senedd consists of 60 elected members. They use the titleMember of the Senedd (MS) orAelod o'r Senedd (AS).[70] The executive arm of the Senedd, theWelsh Government, has been aLabour administration since its inception in 1999. Currently it is led by First Minister,Eluned Morgan, Baroness Morgan of Ely, since August 2024. The government between 2007 and 2011, had been a coalition betweenLabour, led by First Minister Carwyn Jones andPlaid Cymru, led by Deputy First MinisterIeuan Wyn Jones; and between 2016 and 2021, Labour had been in coalition with theLiberal Democrats and an independent member.[71][72] Since 2021, the government has been a Labour minority government. The executive and civil servants are mainly based in Cardiff'sCathays Park while the MSs, the Senedd Commission and Ministerial support staff are based inCardiff Bay, where a new £67 million building, theSenedd, has been built.[73][74][75]
One important feature of the National Assembly until 2007 was that there was no legal or constitutional separation of the legislative and executive functions, since it was a single corporate entity. Compared with otherparliamentary systems, and arrangements for devolution in other countries of the UK, this was unusual. In practice, however, there was separation of functions, and the terms "Assembly" and "Assembly Parliamentary Service" came into use to distinguish between the two arms. The Government of Wales Act 2006 regularised the separation when it came into effect following the 2007 Assembly Election.
Initially, the Assembly did not have primary legislative or fiscal powers, as these powers were reserved byWestminster. The Assembly did have powers to passsecondary legislation in devolved areas. Sometimes secondary legislation could be used to amendprimary legislation, but the scope of this was very limited. For example, the first Government of Wales Act gave the Assembly power to amend primary legislation relating to the merger of certain public bodies. However, most secondary powers were conferred on the executive by primary legislation to give the executive (i.e. Ministers) more powers, and the Assembly had wider legislative powers than appearances might suggest. For example, the Assembly delayed local elections due to be held in 2003 for a year by use of secondary powers, so that they would not clash with Assembly elections. In 2001 the UK parliament used primary legislation to delay for one month local elections in England during theFoot-and-mouth disease epidemic.
The Assembly gained limited primary legislative powers following the 2007 election and the passage of theGovernment of Wales Act 2006. These laws are known asAssembly Measures and can be enacted in specific fields and matters within the legislative competency of the Assembly. New matters and fields can be devolved by Acts of the UK Parliament or byLCOs approved by Parliament.
Until 2015 the Assembly had no tax-varying powers, however it could influence the rate ofCouncil Tax set bylocal authorities, which are part-funded by a grant from the Welsh government.[76] It also has some discretion over charges for government services. Notable examples in which this discretion has been used to create significant differences from other areas in the UK are:
This means in reality that there is a wider definition of "nursing care" than in England and therefore less dependence on means testing in Wales than in England, so that more people are entitled to higher levels of state assistance. These variations in the levels of charges may be viewed asde facto tax varying powers.
This model of more limited legislative powers created in 1999 was partly because Wales has had the same legal system as England since 1536 (though a different court system until 1830), when it wasmerged with England.Ireland andScotland were never merged with England, and so always retained some differences in their legal systems. TheScottish Parliament and theNorthern Ireland Assembly both have deeper and wider powers.
The Assembly inherited the powers and budget of theSecretary of State for Wales and most of the functions of theWelsh Office. It has power to vary laws passed byWestminster using secondary legislation.
Following a referendum on 4 March 2011, the Welsh Assembly gained direct law-making powers (without the need to consult Westminster).On 3 July 2012, the Welsh Assembly passed its first Act, the Local Government Byelaws (Wales) Act.[80]
The Wales Act 2014 and Wales Act 2017 devolved the following taxes to the Welsh Assembly:
The Senedd has the competence to pass bills forActs of Senedd Cymru in all areas which are not explicitly reserved to Westminster; these 'reserved matters' are outlined in schedule 7A of theGovernment of Wales Act 2006.[81]
This means the Senedd has powers over areas such as:
Reserved matters include subjects such as:
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Under theAdditional Member System,[82][83] forty of the MSs are elected from single-member constituencies on aplurality voting system (orfirst past the post) basis, the constituencies being equivalent to those used for theHouse of Commons and twenty MSs are elected from regionalclosed lists using an alternative party vote.[84] There are five regions:Mid and West Wales,North Wales,South Wales Central,South Wales East andSouth Wales West (these are the same as the pre 1999 European Parliament constituencies for Wales), each of which returns four members.[84] The additional members produce a degree of proportionality within each region.[84] Whereas voters can choose any regional party list irrespective of their party vote in the constituency election, list MSs are not elected independently of the constituency element; rather, elected constituency MSs are deemed to be pre-elected list representatives for the purposes of calculating remainders in theD'Hondt method.[84] Overall proportionality is limited by the low proportion of list members (33% of the Senedd compared with 43% in theScottish Parliament and 50% in the GermanBundestag), the regionalisation of the list element, and the lack ofoverhang seat compensation andleveling seats.[85] Consequently, the Senedd as a whole has a greater degree of proportionality (based on proportions in the list elections) than the plurality voting system used for British parliamentary elections, but still deviates somewhat from proportionality.[85]
With the recently passedSenedd Cymru (members and elections) Act 2024 the voting system will be changed to aclosed listproportional representation system using theD’Hondt method with6 seat constituencies. This will be enacted in 2026 and may be used for thenext election if it is scheduled for after then.[86]
In April 2020 the Senedd became the first legislature in the UK to meet over the internet. Due to the consequences of theCOVID-19 pandemic, it held First Minister's Questions usingZoomvideotelephony software and the session was subsequently broadcast by Senedd.tv.[87]
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There have been sixelections to the Senedd, in1999,2003,2007,2011,2016 and2021. The 2016 election was delayed from 2015 as theUK general election was held in 2015,[88][89] and following the passing of the Wales Act 2014, elections occur every five years from the 2016 election.
Thenext Senedd election is due to be held on Thursday 7 May 2026.
| Assembly/ Senedd | Year | Turnout | Seats | Governments | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Labour | Plaid Cymru | Conservative | Lib Dems | UKIP | Others | ||||
| 1997 | 50% | Devolution referendum | |||||||
| 1st | 1999 | 46% | 28 | 17 | 9 | 6 | – | – | Michael (Labour minority) Interim Morgan (Labour minority) Morgan I (Labour – LD) |
| 2nd | 2003 | 38% | 30 | 12 | 11 | 6 | 0 | 1 (JMIP) | Morgan II (Labour majority until 2005[90]), minority after 2005[n 1] |
| 3rd | 2007 | 44% | 26 | 15 | 12 | 6 | 0 | 1 (BGPVG) | Morgan III (Labour minority) Morgan IV (Labour – Plaid) Jones I (Labour – Plaid) |
| 2011 | 36% | Devolution referendum | |||||||
| 4th | 2011 | 42% | 30 | 11 | 14 | 5 | 0 | – | Jones II (Labour minority) |
| 5th | 2016 | 45% | 29 | 12 | 11 | 1 | 7 | – | Jones III (Labour–LD minority, Lib Dem coalition) Drakeford I (Labour–LD–IND majority) |
| 6th | 2021 | 47% | 30 | 13 | 16 | 1 | 0 | – | Drakeford II (Labour minority) Gething (Labour minority) Eluned Morgan (Labour minority) |
 | ||||||||||||||||
| Parties | Additional member system | Total seats | ||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Constituency | Region | |||||||||||||||
| Votes | % | +/− | Seats | +/− | Votes | % | +/− | Seats | +/− | Total | +/− | % | ||||
| Labour | 443,047 | 39.9 |  5.2 | 27 |  | 401,770 | 36.2 | 4.7 | 3 | 1 | 30 | 1 | 50 | |||
| Conservative | 289,802 | 26.1 | 5.0 | 8 | 2 | 278,650 | 25.1 | 6.3 | 8 | 3 | 16 | 5 | 26.7 | |||
| Plaid Cymru | 225,376 | 20.3 |  0.2 | 5 | 1 | 230,161 | 20.7 | 0.1 | 8 | 2 | 13 | 1 | 21.7 | |||
| Liberal Democrats | 54,202 | 4.9 | 2.8 | 0 | 1 | 48,217 | 4.3 | 2.2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | | 1.7 | |||
| Green | 17,817 | 1.6 | 0.9 | 0 | | 48,714 | 4.4 | 1.4 | 0 | | 0 | | 0.0 | |||
| Abolish | 18,149 | 1.6 | 1.6 | 0 | | 41,399 | 3.7 | 0.7 | 0 | | 0 | | 0.0 | |||
| UKIP | 8,586 | 0.8 | 11.7 | 0 | | 17,341 | 1.6 | 11.4 | 0 | 7 | 0 | 7 | 0.0 | |||
Voter turnout at Senedd elections has been traditionally lower than UK general elections. No election since devolution began has hit 50% turnout, with the 2021 election being the highest at 46.6%.[91] In their 2004 paperTurnout, Participation and Legitimacy in Post-Devolution Wales, academicsRoger Awan-Scully,Richard Wyn Jones andDafydd Trystan Davies identified three potential reasons for this: antipathy to the Welsh institutions, apathy to the Welsh institutions or apathy to politics more generally. They suggested apathy – in Wales and to politics in general – is the most likely reason.[92]
Following the 2021 election, Dr Jac Larner, a politics lecturer atCardiff University and an investigator for the Welsh election survey, said the lower turnout figures in Wales did not necessarily reflect a lack of perceived importance in the Senedd.[93] He toldBBC News: "We know from research that low voter turnout is actually a lot do to with people thinking they can't win in a devolved election, so they don't bother going to vote. That's different to a general election where, in Wales, Labour are still more likely to win a majority of seats, but at the UK level it's far more competitive."[93] He compared turnout in Wales to turnout forScottish Parliament elections, which is significantly higher: "Scotland is in quite a unique political position at the moment, where the single most salient issue and the biggest cleavage in society – the issue ofindependence – basically is going to be determined by what happens at the Holyrood elections. Part of it is this idea of interest – there has always been more interest in the idea of a Scottish Parliament, the Scottish Parliament has always been more powerful than the Senedd, even going back to 1999."[93]
Welsh Labour won 30 seats out of 60 in the 2021 Senedd elections. On 9 May 2021 the First Minister,Mark Drakeford MS said "We have demonstrated over a number of governments that you can govern successfully on 30 seats, but I'm open to working with any party where there is common ground between us."[94]
On 22 November 2021, a deal between Welsh Labour and Plaid Cymru was announced. The agreement was not one which saw Plaid Cymru entering a coalition in government with Labour, with Plaid Cymru MSs remaining in opposition. However, Plaid Cymru were able to appoint special advisors to the Welsh Government in a deal which was designed to last for three years.[95] On 17 May 2024, Plaid Cymru announced it would uniliaterally exit the agreement due to concerns with the Labour government's ethics.[96]
The Act has restrictive – and potentially damaging – consequences for the regulatory capacity of the devolved legislatures...This was not the first time since the Brexit referendum that the Convention had been set aside, but it was especially notable given that the primary purpose of the legislation was to constrain the capacity of the devolved institutions to use their regulatory autonomy...in practice, it constrains the ability of the devolved institutions to make effective regulatory choices for their territories in ways that do not apply to the choices made by the UK government and parliament for the English market.
By imposing widespread obligations of non-discrimination and, more important, mutual recognition, the bill seeks to restrict the way that devolved competences operate in practice.
The UK Internal Market Act gives ministers sweeping powers to enforce mutual recognition and non-discrimination across the four jurisdictions. Existing differences and some social and health matters are exempted but these are much less extensive than the exemptions permitted under the EU Internal Market provisions. Only after an amendment in the House of Lords, the Bill was amended to provide a weak and non-binding consent mechanism for amendments (equivalent to the Sewel Convention) to the list of exemptions. The result is that, while the devolved governments retain regulatory competences, these are undermined by the fact that goods and services originating in, or imported into, England can be marketed anywhere.
UK Internal Market Act 2020 imposed new restrictions on the ability of the devolved institutions to enact measures...mutual recognition and non-discrimination requirements mean that standards set by the legislatures in Wales and Scotland cannot restrict the sale of goods which are acceptable in other parts of the UK. In other words, imposing such measures would simply create competitive disadvantages for businesses in Wales and Scotland; they would not change the product standards or environmental protections applicable to all goods which can be purchased in Wales and Scotland.
That phase of joint working was significantly damaged by the UK Internal Market Act, pushed through by the Johnson government in December 2020...the Act diminishes the authority of the devolved institutions, and was vehemently opposed by them.
the Internal Market Bill—a Bill that contains provisions which, if enacted, would significantly constrain, both legally and as a matter of practicality, the exercise by the devolved legislatures of their legislative competence; provisions that would be significantly more restrictive of the powers of the Scottish Parliament than either EU law or Articles 4 and 6 of the Acts of the Union...The UK Parliament passed the European Union (Withdrawal Agreement) Act 2020 and the Internal Market Act 2020 notwithstanding that, in each case, all three of the devolved legislatures had withheld consent.
Taken as a whole, the Internal Market Act imposes greater restrictions upon the competences of the devolved institutions than the provisions of the EU Single Market which it replaced, in spite of pledges to use common frameworks to address these issues.Lord Hope, responsible for many of the leading judgments relating to the first two decades of devolution, regarded the legislation's terms as deliberately confrontational: 'this Parliament can do what it likes, but a different approach is essential if the union is to hold together'.
The market access principles may not preclude the devolved administrations from legislating in the same way that, for example, the Devolution Acts make it unlawful (ultra vires) for the Scottish Parliament, Welsh Senedd and Northern Ireland Assembly to enact legislation [that] is contrary to Convention rights. Nonetheless, their prospective application under the UKIMA imposes significant practical limits on their political autonomy in areas of devolved competence—limits that the dominance of the far larger English market further reinforce.
So when used to disapply relevant requirements in a destination devolved jurisdiction the effect is different from that generated by the devolution statutes when they treat rules that are outside of competence as being 'not law'. In this way, the legislative competence of each jurisdiction is formally maintained, but its exercise constrained by the extraterritorial reach of regulatory norms applicable elsewhere in the UK and by the potential for regulatory competition where local producers are subject to local rules but competing goods can enter that market in compliance with the regulatory standards from where they originate
In that context, even though the new powers might not be used, I expect that the UK Government wants the legislation to be in place before those statutory instruments come into force, in case the common frameworks fall apart. What we are seeing is the UK Government responding to a threat by trying to centralise power or create a system that will function in case there is a problem...For example, England might authorise a new active substance for pesticides, or a new GMO, and would then be able to freely export those products to devolved nations, even if they had controls domestically. In so doing, England could competitively undercut producers and in effect undermine permitted divergence.
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51°27′55″N3°09′37″W / 51.46528°N 3.16028°W /51.46528; -3.16028
