13 Rhagfyr 2023 , Reform Bill Committee
Bil Senedd Cymru (Aelodau ac Etholiadau): Sesiwn dystiolaeth gyda’r Gweinidog
But you accept that smaller parties have a lower threshold over which to get over in terms of being able to get elected to the current Senedd than they will in the future Senedd. I mean, it's a mathematical fact, isn't it?
13 Rhagfyr 2023 , Reform Bill Committee
Bil Senedd Cymru (Aelodau ac Etholiadau): Sesiwn dystiolaeth gyda’r Gweinidog
How is that more democratic?
13 Rhagfyr 2023 , Reform Bill Committee
Bil Senedd Cymru (Aelodau ac Etholiadau): Sesiwn dystiolaeth gyda’r Gweinidog
Okay. So, your argument is a closed system will give you a more proportionate Senedd, even though the threshold over which any party will have to get in terms of share of the votes in each constituency will be around 12 per cent, versus the current 7 per cent…
13 Rhagfyr 2023 , Reform Bill Committee
Bil Senedd Cymru (Aelodau ac Etholiadau): Sesiwn dystiolaeth gyda’r Gweinidog
Yes. So, you were just starting to list the benefits. If you can continue, and then I'll come in.
13 Rhagfyr 2023 , Reform Bill Committee
Bil Senedd Cymru (Aelodau ac Etholiadau): Sesiwn dystiolaeth gyda’r Gweinidog
Especially with automatic registration starting, yes? I mean that, I think, is a—
13 Rhagfyr 2023 , Reform Bill Committee
Bil Senedd Cymru (Aelodau ac Etholiadau): Sesiwn dystiolaeth gyda’r Gweinidog
So, there'll need to be an amendment to the Bill, won't there, in order to accommodate that?
13 Rhagfyr 2023 , Reform Bill Committee
Bil Senedd Cymru (Aelodau ac Etholiadau): Sesiwn dystiolaeth gyda’r Gweinidog
But you accept that mistakes can happen with registration, and, if a mistake happens, a register is published and someone who's an existing, sitting Member of the Senedd isn't on that register, they would be immediately disqualified. Do you think that's…
13 Rhagfyr 2023 , Reform Bill Committee
Bil Senedd Cymru (Aelodau ac Etholiadau): Sesiwn dystiolaeth gyda’r Gweinidog
And, of course, mistakes can happen with electoral rolls. We know that the Welsh Government wanted to introduce a system of automatic voter registration, and they've not been without problems in other parts of the world where they've been introduced. At the…
13 Rhagfyr 2023 , Reform Bill Committee
Bil Senedd Cymru (Aelodau ac Etholiadau): Sesiwn dystiolaeth gyda’r Gweinidog
Can I just ask about the way in which this is tested? So, we heard from the Electoral Commission, and from others, about the fact that, at the moment, it's a simple candidate declaration, effectively, that is submitted. There's no requirement on electoral…
13 Rhagfyr 2023 , Reform Bill Committee
Bil Senedd Cymru (Aelodau ac Etholiadau): Sesiwn dystiolaeth gyda’r Gweinidog
You seem to be satisfied with that. I don't think—[Inaudible.]—who is satisfied with that.
13 Rhagfyr 2023 , Reform Bill Committee
Bil Senedd Cymru (Aelodau ac Etholiadau): Sesiwn dystiolaeth gyda’r Gweinidog
But many people, of course, whose main homes are in England, are on the electoral registers in Wales at their second home. So, you accept that those people ought to be eligible to be candidates for elections at the Senedd, do you, Minister?
13 Rhagfyr 2023 , Reform Bill Committee
Bil Senedd Cymru (Aelodau ac Etholiadau): Sesiwn dystiolaeth gyda’r Gweinidog
Yes. We've heard a lot of evidence that supports the view that people who are elected to the Senedd, making laws about Wales, should reside in Wales. Many of our witnesses expressed their support for that policy and the provisions in the Bill in relation to…
13 Rhagfyr 2023 , Reform Bill Committee
Bil Senedd Cymru (Aelodau ac Etholiadau): Sesiwn dystiolaeth gyda’r Gweinidog
Because, frankly, if one of the factors and reasons and part of the rationale for having this additional facility for an additional two is to enable coalitions to take place so that we can have stable coalitions in the future, then surely this ought to be…
13 Rhagfyr 2023 , Reform Bill Committee
Bil Senedd Cymru (Aelodau ac Etholiadau): Sesiwn dystiolaeth gyda’r Gweinidog
Well, I would have expected you to set that out in your explanatory memorandum as to part of the rationale for putting this into the Bill, but, of course, you didn't, did you?
13 Rhagfyr 2023 , Reform Bill Committee
Bil Senedd Cymru (Aelodau ac Etholiadau): Sesiwn dystiolaeth gyda’r Gweinidog
So, why talk about coalitions?
13 Rhagfyr 2023 , Reform Bill Committee
Bil Senedd Cymru (Aelodau ac Etholiadau): Sesiwn dystiolaeth gyda’r Gweinidog
You seem to be bringing a completely different argument to the table now. I mean, you were suggesting earlier that the reason for this increase was if the Senedd were to be endowed with significant extra powers, then there might be a need to increase the…
13 Rhagfyr 2023 , Reform Bill Committee
Bil Senedd Cymru (Aelodau ac Etholiadau): Sesiwn dystiolaeth gyda’r Gweinidog
Okay. Thank you.
13 Rhagfyr 2023 , Reform Bill Committee
Bil Senedd Cymru (Aelodau ac Etholiadau): Sesiwn dystiolaeth gyda’r Gweinidog
Just to be categoric.
13 Rhagfyr 2023 , Reform Bill Committee
Bil Senedd Cymru (Aelodau ac Etholiadau): Sesiwn dystiolaeth gyda’r Gweinidog
It wasn't?
13 Rhagfyr 2023 , Reform Bill Committee
Bil Senedd Cymru (Aelodau ac Etholiadau): Sesiwn dystiolaeth gyda’r Gweinidog
But is that why you selected 10 per cent, is it?
13 Rhagfyr 2023 , Reform Bill Committee
Bil Senedd Cymru (Aelodau ac Etholiadau): Sesiwn dystiolaeth gyda’r Gweinidog
Well, they've had their flexibility of 5 per cent to manage the job on smaller constituencies, which is more difficult. So, people, I think, will find it odd. I mean, of course, the one thing that does stand out to me is that that sort of margin would be…
13 Rhagfyr 2023 , Reform Bill Committee
Bil Senedd Cymru (Aelodau ac Etholiadau): Sesiwn dystiolaeth gyda’r Gweinidog
So, why not reduce the quota, then, if you've got all these other rules to abide by? Because, effectively, that's a licence to allow for a 30,000 difference between two constituencies.
13 Rhagfyr 2023 , Reform Bill Committee
Bil Senedd Cymru (Aelodau ac Etholiadau): Sesiwn dystiolaeth gyda’r Gweinidog
So, why not remove the quota, then?
13 Rhagfyr 2023 , Reform Bill Committee
Bil Senedd Cymru (Aelodau ac Etholiadau): Sesiwn dystiolaeth gyda’r Gweinidog
But you accept that that could be the peculiar result; an unintended consequence could be a constituency that has 30,000 more electors than the one it's next door to.
13 Rhagfyr 2023 , Reform Bill Committee
Bil Senedd Cymru (Aelodau ac Etholiadau): Sesiwn dystiolaeth gyda’r Gweinidog
So, you think it's fair that one constituency might have 135,000 people who are electors in it, versus another with 165,000? Because that's the sort of margin we're talking about.
