Government of Wales Bill

My Lords, tempting though it is to embrace the principle of the open list, as my party has done in the past, there would be practical difficulties in the Assembly context. We have set up an elaborate system in the electoral regions for choosing candidates and their ranking on the list, which subsequent experience has proved to be right. I wonder if the noble Lord, Lord Livsey, realises that in the 2003 Assembly election the longest regional ballot paper was in South Wales Central, with 12 parties standing and 62 candidates’ names on the ballot paper. It is not surprising that some people found that very confusing. The second vote is acknowledged to be a party vote, and it makes sense that parties should choose who is to represent them and present their choice to the electorate. There is no significant demand, as far as we can see, for a less ordered and more extensive choice of candidates, which, as I say, the electorate have in the past, and may in future, find confusing.