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Politics

Call to replace the Lords

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OVERHAULING Parliament’s London-dominated second chamber would help empower the UK’s nations and regions, writes Willie Sullivan a senior director at the Electoral Reform Society.

It’s been a year since Boris Johnson’s victory in the 2019 general election, an election won with a commitment to ‘level up’ those communities left behind.

Since then, our politics has been shaken by a pandemic that has put pressure on the already strained constitutional settlement that holds the nations and regions of the UK together.

We’ve seen attention turned to local and regional government as well as the devolved administrations. We’ve seen clearly how the over-centralising nature of Westminster can hamper and undermine public trust. The video of Andy Burnham first hearing news of Greater Manchester’s Covid funding settlement at a live press conference will go down as a low point in Britain’s patchwork devolution framework.

This is all set to the backdrop of declining faith in our politics. At the same time as the PM was returning to Number 10 last winter, polling for the Electoral Reform Society showed that just 16% of the public believe politics is working well in the UK – and only 2% feel they have a significant influence over decision-making.

For a government publicly committed to a levelling up agenda, this democratic malaise must serve as a warning: it will take more than economic investment or shiny new infrastructure to remedy the feeling of powerlessness that many feel outside of Westminster.

Tackling that will require some long-overdue reform. The calls for a clear framework for devolution in the UK have become impossible to ignore in recent months. Even areas of England with mayors felt sidelined this year, but the picture was even worse elsewhere – with zero guarantees that local people would be consulted on changes that would affect their lives immeasurably.

There’s a good way to start empowering the UK’s nations and regions: overhauling Parliament’s unelected second chamber.

Abolishing the outdated and unaccountable House of Lords offers a chance to rebalance politics away from Westminster – and create a representative Senate of the Nations and Regions.

Recent Electoral Reform Society analysis found that nearly a quarter of peers are based in London, compared to just 13% of the UK public. Over half – 56% of peers – live in the capital, or the east and south-east of England, while peers in the east and west Midlands make up just 6% between them – leaving many areas in which the Conservatives won seats in the so-called ‘red wall’ woefully underrepresented.

It should be said, this is only peers we know about: more than 300 refuse to state even the country they live in (some live overseas), and hundreds more do not even provide a direct email address for people to get in touch and stand up for their areas.

All this undermines the government’s stated intention to ‘level up’ the regions, when we have a chamber that is skewed towards one patch of England.

Reforming this London-dominated second chamber is a rare issue that is highly popular across all parties. 71% of the UK public back an overhaul of the House of Lords, research showed this year. The issue cuts across Britain’s divides, with an overhaul backed by a majority of those who voted Conservative or Labour in the 2019 general election, and those who voted Leave or Remain in the EU referendum.

As well as levelling up representation – with peers elected using a fair, proportional voting system – a genuinely accountable second chamber could establish a guaranteed voice for the regions of the UK, to speak as one, to scrutinise legislation and our constitutional settlement with clear communities in mind. The UK remains one of the most centralised countries in Europe – and the archaic, power-hoarding set-up in Westminster has a big role to play in why this is.

The pandemic has shown just how important it is for those outside the capital to be truly heard. There are many reasons why voters had more confidence in their governments’ Covid responses more in Wales and Scotland, but having a stake – being genuinely ‘in it together’ makes a big difference.

This is a challenge to all parties, from Boris Johnson as he tries to plot a path for recovery for the UK, to Keir Starmer as he begins to outline his own view of devolution.

One thing’s clear: the London-dominated House of Lords is undermining the voice of local communities. A Senate of the Nations and Regions could be the gamechanger we need.

Politics

Senedd debates Eluned Morgan’s first 100 days as First Minister

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SENEDD members debated Eluned Morgan’s record following her first 100 days, with the First Minister rejecting claims she has failed to stand up for Wales.

Andrew RT Davies led a Conservative debate on the eve of November 14, which marks Eluned Morgan’s hundredth day in office.

He accused the First Minister of letting the country down, pointing to the withdrawal of the universal winter fuel allowance for pensioners and warnings of 4,000 premature deaths.

The leader of the opposition also criticised Labour’s decision to raise national insurance contributions for employers, with unemployment in Wales at 5.3% and rising.

Mr Davies said 4,000 patients have been added to NHS waiting lists since the First Minister took office in August, with a total of 614,000 people now waiting for treatment.

He told the Senedd: “That is a damning indictment of government failure here …. That is not standing up for patients here in Wales, it’s not standing up for clinicians, and it’s not standing up, importantly, for the workforce.”

Rhun ap Iorwerth said Baroness Morgan’s first 100 days have shown little evidence of a change in direction from the Welsh Government.

The Plaid Cymru leader said: “By any objective measure, nothing has fundamentally changed in those 100 days.”

He said Baroness Morgan has no plan to grow the economy nor tackle a crisis in the NHS.

Mr ap Iorwerth accused the First Minister of failing to make the case for replacing the Barnett formula, devolving the Crown Estate, and compensating Wales for HS2 spending.

He said: “I’m afraid that what we’ve seen is Labour in Welsh Government, under the new First Minister, shifting into the mode of defending their masters at Westminster….

“A fundamental difference between Plaid Cymru and Labour is that we will never let Westminster diktat hamper our ambitions for Wales.”

Labour’s Hefin David was unconvinced by the 100-day measure of success, which was coined by former US President Franklin Roosevelt in the 1930s.

He said: “It worked for him; I’m not sure it’s going to work so much across modern politics, which moves so quickly and so differently.”

He suggested the next Senedd election in 18 months will be a much better yardstick.

The Caerphilly Senedd Member pointed out that Wales’ first female First Minister, from Ely, Cardiff, one of the poorest parts of the UK, succeeded against the odds.

Describing Baroness Morgan as a “listening First Minister”, Dr David joked: “She’s the only First Minister who gives me a cwtch every time I see her. I can see Mark Drakeford getting a little worried there. I’m not expecting anything, finance minister.

“But I do think it demonstrates the warmth of Eluned Morgan.”

Responding to the debate, Eluned Morgan reeled off a list of achievements including £28m to cut waiting times, £13m on better end of life care and a new north Wales medical school.

She said £7.7m has been invested in a specialist burns and plastic surgery centre at Swansea’s Morriston Hospital, serving ten million people from Aberystwyth to Oxford.

Baroness Morgan lauded a “landmark” £1bn investment in the redevelopment of Shotton Mill, Deeside, protecting 137 jobs and creating 220 more.

She claimed the Labour Welsh and UK Governments also secured a better deal for Tata steelworkers, accusing the Tories of failing to budget for a £80m transition fund.

“This is a lengthy list,” she said. “But it could be longer and it will be longer as we continue to deliver…. The first 100 days demonstrates how Welsh Labour is delivering real investment, real jobs, real support for communities – not promises and pledges but delivery.

“I am so proud of everything this government has already delivered since I became First Minister and I’m optimistic about what we can achieve as we move forward.”

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Education

Disabled children ‘denied rights to education’

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DISABLED children and young people in Wales are being fundamentally let down and denied their right to education, Senedd Members warned.

Buffy Williams, who chairs the children’s committee, led a debate after an inquiry found many disabled children do not have equal access to education and childcare.

The Labour politician raised concerns about the Welsh Government rejecting six of the 32 recommendations emerging from the committee’s 239-page report.

She welcomed recognition that more must be done to uphold children’s rights to education.

But, addressing Welsh ministers, Ms Williams warned: “We do not feel that your response commits to a step change in the pace and scale of the action required to do so.

“Our committee, like the online advisory group, worries that maybe you are not giving these issues the priority they deserve.”

She told the Senedd that families’ distressing experiences left an imprint, with the committee hearing some children are thinking about and attempting suicide due to a lack of support.

Ms Williams said parents, carers and young people on the advisory group believe ministers’ formal response to the report fails to recognise the seriousness of the issues families face.

She warned the Welsh Government appears to have “resigned” itself to a substantial shortfall in inclusive childcare for disabled and neurodivergent children.

Criticising ministers’ decision to rebuff calls for mandatory training on disability for all school staff, she stressed the importance of understanding and meeting children’s needs.

Ms Williams, who represents Rhondda, said the Welsh Government’s response appears to delegate responsibility for equity in childcare and education to councils.

She asked: “What more will it take for the Welsh Government to step in, to give local authorities the support they so clearly need?”

Gareth Davies said support for disabled children is patchy across Wales, with schools lacking funding, staff and expertise to deliver inclusive education.

Mr Davies, the Conservatives’ shadow mental health minister, warned that disabled children disproportionately experience bullying in school as he called for greater safeguards.

Plaid Cymru’s Heledd Fychan described the committee’s inquiry as heartbreaking, with failings having a devastating impact on families.

She told the debating chamber or Siambr that children as young as five or six have been traumatised and failed by the education system.

Carolyn Thomas, a Labour backbencher who chairs the petitions committee, stated the Senedd has received five petitions on Wales’ additional learning needs (ALN) reforms.

“The sheer number of petitions and signatures highlights the strength of feeling,” she said.

South Wales East Laura Anne Jones warned ALN support is one of the most pressing issues facing families, with lower-level needs “falling under the radar”.

She said it is disgraceful that so many teachers and assistants still lack basic neurodiversity training, which leads to disabled children’s behaviour being wrongly labelled disruptive.

Calling for urgent action, the Conservative criticised ministers for failing to accept “crucial” recommendations, saying: “Inclusive education is not a luxury, it is a right.”

Hefin David, whose daughter is autistic, sought to place the debate in historical context as he drew on his own family’s experiences.

He said: “In the 1970s and ’80s, my daughter would have been in an institution for most of her early life, she would have spent the whole time there.”

The Caerphilly Senedd Member recognised that progress is sometimes not fast enough but he emphasised that young people are being treated better today than ever before.

Dr David, who is stepping down from the children’s committee, said: “To take too much of a downbeat note on these things is to devalue the experience of those who suffered.”

The Labour politician described the 32 recommendations as “too many”, warning this is problematic in terms of setting people up to fail with resources spread so thin.

Responding to the debate on November 12, Lynne Neagle apologised to families for their experiences which she said made for distressing and sobering reading.

Wales’ education secretary said: “I am truly sorry … and I say on behalf of the [Welsh] Government that it is not good enough.”

Ms Neagle, whose first job after university was working with parents of disabled children, recognised that families too often feel the need to fight for support.

“It affected me deeply,” she told the Senedd. “And I want to acknowledge that not enough has changed for enough families – we can and we must do better.”

She said: “Rights on their own are not enough, they must be translated into action…. I know too many children and families have been waiting too long for their rights to become action.

“Like them, I am impatient for change. As a government, we will not stop until we get it right for all children and young people in Wales.”

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Charity

Kurtz goes Jurassic as Pantosaurus visits Senedd NSPCC Campaign

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THIS WEEK, the NSPCC’s annual campaign to safeguard children from sexual abuse reached the steps of the Senedd.

Pantosaurus, the friendly mascot of the NSPCC’s PANTS campaign, appeared to raise awareness among Members of the Senedd and the wider public about the vital importance of child safety. The campaign encourages parents and carers to talk openly with young children about risks and protective measures.

The PANTS campaign is built around five key child protection messages:

  1. Privates are private.
  2. Always remember your body belongs to you.
  3. No means no.
  4. Talk about secrets that upset you.
  5. Speak up; someone can help.

After meeting Pantosaurus, Samuel Kurtz MS, Member of the Senedd for Carmarthen West and South Pembrokeshire, expressed his support for the campaign

He said: “I wholeheartedly support this important NSPCC initiative. Since its launch in 2013, it has empowered over six million families to discuss this sensitive subject.

“This issue affects communities across Wales, so promoting the five principles of PANTS is essential for everyone in Pembrokeshire and beyond.”

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