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Proceeding contribution from Lord Rowlands (Labour) in the House of Lords on Tuesday, 27 June 2006. It occurred during Debate on bill on Government of Wales Bill.


Government of Wales Bill

My Lords, I draw the attention of the noble Lord, Lord Livsey, to the fact that the Richard commission recommended STV and an 80-Member seat on the transfer of full primary powers to the Assembly and not in the context of this Bill. Amendment No. 2, subsection (2), reads:"““Each Assembly constituency shall be comprised of no more than one tenth and no less than one twenty-fifth of the eligible electorate””." Could he in practical terms tell us under the current electorate what would be the smallest size of the constituency and what would be the largest under his proposals? Thirdly, I would like to say to him and to the Liberal Democrats that I do not believe that you can possibly suggest that these amendments fall within the scope of the original settlement. The proposal is to increase the membership to 80, to completely and utterly change the electoral system, and, incidentally, reduce the voting age to 16. In the absence of a referendum on these issues, I could not possibly support them.


Secondary information

Type
Proceeding contribution
Reference
683 c1111 
Session
2005-06
Chamber / Committee
House of Lords chamber
Subjects
Disclosure of information Devolved matters Constituencies Audit Candidates Age Devolution Committees Elections Electorate Legislative competence Electoral systems First ministers Powers Public appointments Public bodies Members National Assembly for Wales Political parties Public expenditure Ministers Wales Voting rights Welsh language Single transferable vote Standing orders Wales Office National Assembly for Wales Commission
Legislation
Government of Wales Bill 2005-06
Link
View this Proceeding contribution on www.publications.parliament.uk