Updated September 2024
Senedd reform
There will be an increase in the number of Members of Senedd from 60 to 96. This follows a final vote that took place in May.
Labour and Plaid Cymru Senedd Members, along with the one Liberal Democrat MS voted in favour of The Senedd Cymru (Members and Elections) Act. All Welsh Conservative members of the Senedd voted against this legislation. I am certainly not in favour of this legislation, and I want to set out the changes and why I am opposed to them.
The passing of this Bill means that the size of the Senedd will increase to 96 Members from May 2026. There is also a change to the electoral system to one fully based on proportional representation, but voters will now vote for a party instead of a candidate. From the 2026 Senedd election, the D’Hondt formula will be used (this formula has been used to determine the Senedd’s regional list Members in past elections).
The Bill means that we will now have 16 new Senedd constituencies, which will be created by pairing using the 32 UK Parliamentary constituencies in time for the 2026 Senedd election. There will be a full boundary review after the 2026 Senedd election. Each super constituency will have 6 Members of the Senedd elected, from closed lists, in each of the 16 constituencies.
The Democracy and Boundary Commission Cymru on the 3 September 2024 released its initial proposals for redrawing the Senedd constituencies which included the Montgomeryshire and Glyndwr constituency being combined with with the Dwyfor Meirionnydd seat to form a new Senedd constituency.
The Welsh Government will also be able to increase the limit on the number of Welsh Ministers who can be appointed from 12 to 17 (plus the First Minister and the Counsel General) with the ability to further increase the number to 18 or 19 with the Senedd’s approval.
Following the passing of this Bill, it will mean that no longer would just one member represent a constituency, but several Senedd Members would represent a larger area.
Work is now underway to ensure the changes brought about by the Senedd Cymru (Members and Elections) Act will be in place for the 2026 Senedd election.
There is no public mandate for either a larger Senedd or for the proposed changes to the voting system, so none of these proposals should be implemented in my view, and certainly not without the public having their say in a referendum. Unfortunately, a Welsh Conservative amendment to the Bill calling for a referendum was not supported by other parties.
Under the new requirements, voters will not be able to vote for an individual candidate. Instead, in 16 regions of six members, parties will put forward slates of candidates, but voters will simply vote for a party, not a person. In my view, the link between constituent and the Senedd member will be lost. Voters understand and expect to have a close relationship with their constituency member and to be able to hold them accountable if not.
My concern is that future Senedd members, now that this legislation is agreed, will owe their position not to a personal relationship with voters, but instead to their party bosses. This, I believe, is the wrong and bad for democracy.
All this will cost up to £18 million a year, or the equivalent of 650 nurses.
Not once have I knocked on a door and spoken to a resident that thinks the solution to Wales’ problems is to spend countless millions in perpetuity on more politicians, and it’s my view that we do not need more politicians, what we really need is more doctors, dentists and teachers.
Our Welsh NHS remains under-funded, with the longest waiting lists in the UK. We still have nearly 25,000 patients waiting two years or more for treatment, whereas in England there are only 282.
Our education system lags the rest of the UK, with the steepest decline in PISA results and a cut to education of £56 million, not in real terms, but in actual cash terms, hitting school budgets across Wales.
We have significantly higher economic inactivity levels in Wales than elsewhere in the UK and pay packets lagging thousands of pounds behind.
Wales already has the powers it needs to deliver a better economy, better schools, and an improved NHS, yet, the people of Wales would rightly expect the Welsh Government to be addressing these issues, not putting time, energy, and resources into what I think is an unnecessary vanity project.
Another Bill that the Welsh Government want to introduce, is The Senedd Cymru (Electoral Candidate Lists) Act which was introduced in March 2024. This Bill aims to make it a requirement for Senedd members to be at least made up by 50% women.
There have been concerns raised with this Bill in the Senedd, not least due to concerns that this could be a reserved power, meaning that the Welsh Government and Senedd would be unable to legislate in this area.