Government of Wales Bill

I assume that the hon. Lady is referring to the proposed changes regarding dual candidacy. One of the bad effects of the present system is that it creates problems of dual candidacy, which I shall not discuss now because that is for another time this afternoon. Such problems result directly from the existing system. That is why I think that it should go, but that is not the purpose of the amendment. The amendment would establish consultation. We should ask the people of Wales what they think about the system. There are a number of alternatives. Some years ago, several of us suggested that there should be 80 Assembly Members, with two elected for each constituency. That would have solved the problem of gender balance in my party. We would have been able to elect those Members by the alternative vote, which would have been a different method from the first-past-the-post system. Lord Richard recommended using the single transferable vote. I am not too keen on that, but it would produce something that was more understandable than the existing system. I would not support it, but at least I can see the sense behind it, which is not the case for the existing system.That is why I support the amendment. I hope that the Secretary of State and the Minister will consider it carefully and reflect on the need to ask people in Wales what they think about the current system. There is a risk to the legitimacy of the Assembly and to solid, firm, sound and strong government because of the results that the current system produces. Worst of all is the fact that the system is not easily understood by the people. That makes it a bad system. There are many ways of reforming the arrangements—a single vote, a single constituency for the top-up Members from the whole of Wales, or some other system— but the present system is not doing the job. In my view it should go, but at least we should examine it.