Government of Wales Bill

I apologise to hon. Members because my voice is gradually fading away and may be reduced to a faint whisper by the end of the debate. I shall pick up those points as I develop my argument. It is notable that when there was one Labour regional AM we heard no complaints about the system. Now that complaints have been made, we see that there are no Labour regional AMs. That suggests that there is an enormous bias in favour of presenting a political solution instead of one that is good for the people of Wales. When the Welsh Affairs Committee inquired into the Government’s White Paper, ““Better Governance for Wales””, it divided strictly along party lines. The fact that no party other than Labour has picked up the cudgels on this leads me to believe that it is not in the best interests of the people of Wales. The Electoral Commission is not convinced of the need for change. In its submission to the Welsh Affairs Committee, it concluded:"““In light of the need to encourage voter participation at the Assembly election in 2007, we would caution against any change that is perceived to be partisan and could add to a prevailing distrust of politicians.""On the evidence available to the Commission . . . we do not believe that the case for change has been made out.””" I think that the Minister would admit that those words should be taken very seriously; after all, they are from the Government’s own commission. Opposition to the ban was forcefully expressed by the Electoral Reform Society, which concluded:"““We urge the Government to reconsider their proposal to ban dual candidacy, a controversial and divisive argument for which the case has not been adequately made.””"