My Lords, I wish to speak to those amendments in this group which deal with the consequences of the Welsh Government’s refusal to grant legislative consent to this Bill—primarily, Amendments 1 and 2, and others. The Welsh Government’s refusal results, of course, in the removal from the Bill of all aspects which relate to devolved elections. I am pleased to welcome these amendments, but I must say that the pleasure is tempered by the sympathy that I feel for my English colleagues, who will have to contend with some aspects of this Bill which they, and I, find very difficult to accept, and which go against the principles which govern free and fair elections in the UK.
At Second Reading, I spoke against the moves to neuter or control the Electoral Commission by the introduction of a strategy and policy statement, which your Lordships’ Committee has just dealt with. I also spoke of the deep disappointment felt in the Senedd at the way in which the UK Government was prepared to overlook or ignore the role of the Llywydd’s Committee, and its role in holding the Electoral Commission to account on behalf of the Senedd itself.
The refusal of the Welsh Government to give legislative consent to this Bill has resulted in Amendment 1, which excludes the Electoral Commission’s devolved Scottish and Welsh functions from inclusion in a statement, and Amendment 2, which defines the elections to which the functions relate, thereby securing the status quo for the commission in Wales. The refusal also has the effect that, in devolved Welsh elections, there will be no need for voter ID, no new constraints on postal or proxy voting and no extension of the overseas franchise.
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Our Senedd will continue to be elected by the d’Hondt system—not a perfect system, I would agree, but it introduces a good element of PR and results in a balanced Senedd, where the seats allocated to political parties reflect the number of votes cast. Of course, in the devolved elections for the Senedd and for local government elections, our 16 year-olds will continue
to be able to vote—not that this right, or our more proportional voting system, is under threat from the UK Government in this Bill, but I mention both merely to emphasise how much our systems have already diverged. Dealing with even more divergence will become the new normal, as voters and officials cope with different systems for devolved and reserved elections.
I thank the Minister for his letter to Members, in particular for the section dealing with the disapplication of the devolved provisions. I am grateful for his decision to respect the wishes of the devolved Administrations by the tabling of these amendments. I understand the Minister’s disappointment and his concerns about the exclusion of what he terms the “protective measures” in the Bill—modernising the offence of undue influence and the regulation of political finance, for example—but these are issues that can be determined by the Senedd, and it is the Senedd’s right to do so. The Senedd’s Counsel General has already indicated his desire to introduce an elections Bill in the Senedd and, as the Minister himself says in his letter,
“the Welsh Government has expressed support in principle for a number of areas in the Bill”.
The challenge for the Welsh Government will be to take noble Lords’ concerns on board in their new Bill, once they have undergone the due process of scrutiny and consultation.
Although I believe that the rights and responsibilities regarding devolved elections in Wales lie with the Welsh Government, I cannot resist the temptation to add a further challenge or gentle nudge—and that is for the Welsh Government and the whole Senedd to finally come to a decision about the size of the Senedd and an even more proportional system of voting for our Senedd. I know that this is already a work in progress, but we have been waiting in anticipation since the Richard commission reported in 2004.