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Government of Wales Bill

moved Amendment No. 4:"Page 1, line 8, leave out subsection (2) and insert—" ““(2) The Senedd is to consist of eighty members elected through the single transferable vote from multi-member constituencies.”” The noble Lord said: The amendment proposes that election in multi-member constituencies should take place by the single transferable vote and that the Senedd should consist of 80 members to bring that about. It would replace Clause 1(2). As far as support for the amendment is concerned, I refer the Committee to the Richard report, whose conclusions on this issue are very straightforward and easily understood. Paragraph 47 of chapter 14 of the report states:"““If AMS [additional member system] is to be replaced, the best option for electing an 80 Member Assembly is the STV [single transferable vote] system. This would not necessarily produce a more proportional outcome than AMS - it might not, depending on the size of the constituency (Chapter 12). The case for adopting the STV system would be to maintain the principle of proportionality while ensuring that all Members were elected in the same way, and enjoyed the same relationship with the electorate””." As regards this amendment, that is very straightforward. I shall also refer to other amendments in this group which are put forward in our name. Amendment No. 7 refers specifically to multi-member constituencies, which is a concomitant of creating the STV system, and Amendment No. 14 refers to single transferable vote constituencies. Constructing a system via these amendments would give each Member of the Assembly equal validity in terms of the voting system. It would create what we believe to be a fairer Assembly. Amendment No. 21 refers again to single transferable vote elections. Amendment No. 24 refers to the lowering of the voting age to 16. This is a comprehensive group of amendments put forward in our name, which we believe to be worthy of consideration by the Committee.