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Government of Wales Bill

Those Members did not receive such postbags because only one of them was elected to the Assembly under the first-past-the-post system. [Interruption.] We do not need e-mails and letters. Let us walk around the streets and go to the markets in our constituencies to talk to the people whom we represent and who know about politics. Despite what the Electoral Commission, academics and e-mails say, those people will say that the system is flawed and discredited. They will certainly say that it is unloved. Much against my better judgment, I supported the system when I was a member of the Government. In the early days when we discussed the best system for the National Assembly, my personal preference would have been for first past the post. There is no better system than one that has a direct link between the Member in the Assembly or Parliament and those who elected him. If we are to have a different system—I accept that there is a case for having a slightly different system for the devolved institutions—it is right to consider the alternatives. However, I simply think that the one that has been chosen is the worst of the lot.