Petition calling for referendum on Senedd expansion gains over 10k signatures
Emily Price
A Senedd petition calling for a referendum on plans to increase the Welsh Parliament by an extra 36 members has reached over 10,000 signatures.
This means it has passed the threshold required for the Petitions Committee to consider it for a debate in the Chamber – although this is not guaranteed.
Started by Nanette Davies from Mold in Flintshire, the petition titled ‘We feel there should be a Referendum before the Senedd has a further 36 members’ was due to run until April 2025.
She said: “The Senedd costs a lot of money. Local Authorities are struggling with funding. We don’t feel that more money should be wasted on Members of the Senedd when we need improvements to NHS , Education and Social Care.
“Local Authorities are so cash strapped that they cannot deliver services. Waiting lists are endless. Elderly are bed blocking hospitals because of the lack of care homes and carers.”
The petition was signed by Welsh Conservative MS Tom Giffard who shared it on social media earlier this month.
The Senedd Petitions Committee today received a request to close the petition early.
A slot for committee members to discuss whether it should be recommend for a debate will be scheduled in due course.
Cost
Plans agreed by the Welsh Government and Plaid Cymru to increase the number of MSs from 60 to 96 and change how they are elected got final approval earlier this year.
The landmark legislation will see the maximum number of Welsh Government ministers increase to 17 – not including the first minister and counsel general – with powers to further increase to 19.
Supporters say the Senedd’s expansion will strengthen opposition members’ ability to hold Welsh ministers accountable for their decisions.
The Wales Act 2017 provided power to the Senedd to change its size without being subject to a referendum.
Similarly, a referendum was not required in the reduction of Wales MPs from 40 to 32, as a result of boundary reform changes being introduced for Westminster elections.
Increasing the number of MSs could cost up to £17.5m in a typical year – around 0.07% of the £24bn total annual Welsh budget.
£12m has also been earmarked to fund the infrastructure changes needed to make room for more MSs.
The Welsh Conservatives say the money should be spent on more doctors, dentists, nurses and teachers.
‘Effective’
Tom Giffard said: “Labour and Plaid’s £120m plans, concocted in a backroom deal, have been controversial from the start.
“Whilst Reform cosy up to Labour and Plaid and back the Cardiff Bay consensus for more politicians, only the Welsh Conservatives have stood up against the plans.
“I hope the Petitions Committee agree to table a debate, as a first step to hopefully scrapping these expensive and unpopular proposals.”
A Welsh Government spokesperson said: “After being backed by a majority in the Senedd, the Senedd Cymru (Members and Elections) Act gained Royal Assent in June to create a modern, more effective Welsh Parliament to serve and represent people.
“Wales is currently the most under-represented country in the UK but under the new law, the Senedd will gain increased capacity to scrutinise policies, laws, spending plans, and hold the Welsh Government to account.”
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Absolutely should happen. It’s about doing this the right way and with the continuation of closed lists its clearly not doing this the right way. Democracy isn’t about the agreement between two parties but between the government and the people. The only people who disagree are those who think they’re up for selection with votes from a few mates rather than election and scrutiny by the general public. On the Indy side of things; this will make it far harder to gain a majority. It’ll mean that if a pro-Indy party becomes the biggest party there’ll always be a Unionist… Read more »
Why the fuss on increasing Senedd size when we’ve been burdened for 28 YEARS with 22 largely ineffective County Councils that were imposed on us by the Tories in 1996, with PAID councillors and a “cabinet system” that makes most of the paid councillors totally toothless and ineffective? Since then, Labour in Wales have failed totally to restructure to restore something like the former 8 relatively effective county councils, while Tories have squeezed any efficiency their creations ever had through their continuous austerity programmes. Their creatures are now toothless and virtually bankrupt – except that their “cabinet members” still receive… Read more »
Agree – the local government structure is what is actually a mess. No way we need 28 councils and the number of councillors and executives in each of them. Always thought it was daft we only have 60 Senedd members for a powerful, Wales-wide parliament.
The referendum would be won by those supporting Senedd expansion. They’ll only be wasting time, money and resources.
Sadly I rather doubt that. Right now, the public mood seems to me to be very considerably nostalgic and reactionary. Maybe that won’t last, but I fear that for now we are where we are..
Exactly. A referendum costs money too. It shows that she’s not being honest about her reasoning.
Did Wales have a referendum when they reduced the number of M P,s NO THEY DID NOT Scotland have a million more people than Wales and have the numbers of in their Parliament to represent the number in the Population northern Ireland have a million less people but have far more members in their Parliament so why has Wales not got the right number in the first place because the English do not want us to and the Welsh people who just want Wales to be a Glorified county of England and there are some of them Traitors Quislings on… Read more »
I agree Dai, they are traitors – most are Reform UK ignoramuses.
The people who want a referendum are likely to fall into the category of those who know the cost of everything and the value of nothing. The easy option is to focus on the cost of increasing the number of MSs, the value of increasing the number of MSs is largely ignored. The Senedd is trying to build a country, those who oppose increasing the number of MSs are trying to hold our country back.
It was in the manifesto of Llafur Cymru ahead of the last Senedd elections and Llafur were elected with the most members, a de facto referendum.
snouts in troughs.