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Government of Wales Bill

I support everything that the noble Lord, Lord Richard, said. I am delighted to hear him—as the one who, in great depth, went into the method of electing Members to the Welsh Assembly—say it today. The noble Lord, Lord Roberts of Conwy, referred to the loss of connection between a Member and his or her constituency. Already we have STV for European elections in Wales. We used to have five regions; now we have one list for the whole of Wales. Wales has taken a step towards STV and people there understand the different forms of election. We do not have that direct connection as regards Europe but we now have four European Members. I do not think that anybody would say that they are less effective than the previous regional Members. One of our big problems with the Bill is the validity of the role of the regional list Member and the constituency Member. If we continue with the top-up system of additional Members, it will be whether or not we have the same people on the list as in the constituencies. We have not tackled properly the role of the regional list Member compared to that of the constituency Member, and one day we will have to. STV would sort it out for us; the single transferable vote would give equal validity and the same role to every Member, as at European level. I will refer to the Welsh institution as a Senedd,as I hope that one day it will become the Senedd. There are 129 Members of the Scottish Parliament, one for every 39,000 people; in Northern Ireland there are 108 Members, one for every 15,700 people; and in Wales there are 60, one for every 48,000 people. Therefore, the burden on Welsh Assembly Members is greater than that on Members in Northern Ireland or Scotland. As we heard today, the Government’s landmark legislation will create more responsibility; yet how many Members will there be to shoulder that extra responsibility? There will be just the same number. Of that number, 12 are in the Government and there is a Presiding Officer and a Deputy Presiding Officer. If you subtract those 14, you are down to 46 Members, of whom the Government have a minority share. I am sure that the Government will see the validity of our argument that it would be far more beneficial and effective in carrying out scrutiny and dealing with legislation to have 80 rather than 60 Members in the Welsh Assembly or Senedd.