Politics

Senedd Members clash over gender quota plans

Published

8 months ago

March 18, 2024

PLANS to ensure equal representation of women in the Senedd have been described as a waste of time, energy and resources due to the likelihood of legal roadblocks.

Darren Millar criticised Welsh ministers for bringing forward the Senedd Cymru (Electoral Candidate Lists) bill despite concerns that it is not within the Welsh Parliament’s powers.

The Conservatives’ shadow constitution minister said plans for legally binding gender quotas in future Senedd elections would impact equalities law which is reserved to Westminster.

He told the chamber: “It is extraordinary that this Senedd is spending time, energy and resources focusing on a piece of legislation that it does not have the competence to be able to deliver, rather than focusing on the everyday concerns of the people of Wales.”

Mr Millar raised alarm about the potential costs, warning: “There’ll be significant legal challenges if this bill goes forward, not least, probably, in the Supreme Court.”

Elin Jones, the Senedd’s speaker or Llywydd, wrote to all MSs this week, setting out her view that the bill would not be within the Welsh Parliament’s powers.

Following legal advice, she wrote: “I considered the purpose and effect of the bill.

“While I accept the bill has the devolved purpose of making the Senedd a more effective legislature, in my view the bill also has the reserved purpose of equal opportunities.”

Ms Jones said the question of whether the bill is within the Senedd’s powers can only be definitively answered by the Supreme Court.

Her statement on legislative competence does not affect whether the bill can proceed, but it could later be referred to the Supreme Court by the UK Government’s attorney general.

Mr Millar raised concerns about the bill’s legislative process being cut short in the Senedd, with less time than usual for committee scrutiny and amendments.

He warned: “You’re going to chop down the opportunity for the committee to undertake its important work, in spite of the huge question marks over the competency of this Senedd.”

Challenged by the first minister about a lack of diversity on the Conservative benches, Mr Millar recognised political parties need to do more to address under-representation.

However, he argued people should be elected on the basis of merit.

He criticised a lack of a mandatory “zipping” process for candidate lists, saying: “The bill provides for lists to be entirely made up of women but not men. There’s no equality there.”

Describing the plans as groundbreaking, Jane Hutt, the member in charge of the bill, outlined the Welsh Government’s position in a statement to the Senedd on March 12.

Wales’ equality minister told the chamber: “The purpose of the bill is to establish a more effective Senedd, and, as such, the bill is within the Senedd’s competence.

“And I think that point about purpose is crucial to this.”

Ms Hutt quoted the Government of Wales Act 2006 as saying the question of whether a bill relates to a matter reserved to Westminster is determined by reference to its purpose.

“That’s the test about competence,” she said. “The purpose of this bill is to establish a more effective Senedd. Surely we can unite on that goal, to deliver a more effective Senedd?”

Ms Hutt added that a tight timetable is required to ensure the reforms are in place before the next Senedd election in 2026.

Heledd Fychan, for Plaid Cymru, said the bill would make the Senedd more representative of the people that it aims to represent and make the institution more effective.

She pointed out that less than a third of the 470 candidates put forward by political parties were women in the 2021 Senedd election.

Ms Fychan said: “Gender quotas for elections are commonplace around the world and are now used in more than 130 countries.

“Evidence from countries such as Spain, Belgium and Ireland shows that gender quotas can be an effective means of increasing the number of women elected to parliaments.

“The number of women in the parliaments of 11 EU countries that used gender quotas increased almost three times faster than in EU countries without quotas.”

Adam Price, the former Plaid Cymru leader, said: “Having fair and equal representation for all is a victory for all. That is the essence of what you are seeking to achieve with this bill.”

Mr Price said the bill would be a fundamental step forward and the same mechanism could be used in future to address the whole range of diversity.

Vikki Howells, a Labour MS who represents Cynon Valley, raised the example of Ireland, which introduced gender quotas in 2016.

Ms Howells, a former history teacher at St Cenydd Comprehensive in Caerphilly, said Ireland has since seen a 90% increase in the number of women candidates and a 44% rise in the number of women elected.

Huw Irranca-Davies, a fellow Labour backbencher, who chairs the legislation committee, suggested the issue of whether the bill is within Senedd powers is likely to be contested.

The Ogmore MS backed the policy’s intended aim, saying: “The progressive road is not always the easy road, but it is the right road.”

News

Campaigners urge Welsh Government to adopt proportional representation for Local Elections

Published

11 hours ago

November 14, 2024

Tom Sinclair

CAMPAIGNERS are calling on the Welsh Government to introduce the Single Transferable Vote (STV) system for local elections, following moves by two councils to shift away from the First Past the Post (FPTP) system being blocked on technical grounds.

Yesterday (Nov 14), Ceredigion Council voted narrowly, with an 18 to 17 majority, in favor of adopting STV. This follows Gwynedd Council’s decision last month, where 65% of councillors backed the move. However, both councils have been prevented from implementing STV due to a requirement for a two-thirds majority under the Local Government and Elections (Wales) Act 2021.

In recent consultations, public support for STV has been overwhelming, with over 70% in Gwynedd and 67% in Ceredigion favoring the change. Only Powys Council rejected the proposal, despite 60.5% of its respondents supporting STV. Campaigners argue that the current system deprives voters of representation, citing that over 100,000 people were denied a vote in the 2022 elections due to uncontested seats.

The Electoral Reform Society Cymru (ERS Cymru) highlights the contrast with Scotland, where the introduction of STV for local elections in 2007 has significantly reduced uncontested seats. According to ERS Cymru, Scotland has had fewer uncontested seats in the last four elections combined than Gwynedd Council recorded alone in 2022.

Jess Blair, Director of ERS Cymru, said:

“Decisions made in council chambers affect everyone in those areas, so every vote should count. It’s absurd that councils choosing STV are blocked by a technicality, leaving them stuck with an outdated system that denies representation to thousands. The Welsh Government must act to avoid repeating the undemocratic outcomes of the last elections.”

Campaigners are now calling on the Welsh Government to introduce STV across all councils in Wales, ensuring representation that reflects the electorate’s wishes.

Politics

Alarm over Wales’ domestic violence ‘epidemic’

Published

13 hours ago

November 14, 2024

Chris Haines, ICNN Senedd reporter

DOMESTIC violence against women and girls is the scourge of Wales and a national emergency, Senedd Members warned.

Mabon ap Gwynfor said Welsh police reported more than 45,000 cases of domestic abuse in 2022/23 and almost 10,000 sexual offences the previous year, with many more unrecorded.

Leading a Senedd debate, the Plaid Cymru politician challenged a tendency to believe rural Wales is an exception, with domestic abuse “limited” to urban areas only.

“The evidence shows otherwise,” he said. “Rates of domestic abuse in north Wales are higher than those in the city of London.

“North Wales even faces the same level of sexual crimes as Greater Manchester, which has a population five times the size.”

Mr ap Gwynfor added: “I am afraid the election of President Trump in the US is going to make things much worse as he makes misogynistic attitudes acceptable again.”

He said victims wait a year for support in Cardiff or Merthyr but four months in Swansea, asking: “How can we justify someone’s trauma being dependent on a postcode lottery?”

He told the Senedd that 16 children per 1,000 in north Wales are being seen by sexual assault referral centres compared with a rate of 2.9 per 1,000 in London.

Mr ap Gwynfor said the NSPCC found one in five children have experienced domestic violence, with Childline Cardiff holding 4,000 counselling sessions in the past year.

Calling for urgent devolution, he warned that prosecution statistics suggest sexual violence has effectively been legalised, with victims let down and public trust eroded.

Labour’s Joyce Watson said a vigil will be held outside the Senedd on November 25 to mark White Ribbon Day, the international day for ending violence against women and children.

Ms Watson highlighted her party’s pledge to halve violence against women and girls over the next decade, calling for funding from Westminster to further the aim in Wales.

She told the Senedd: “It is a national threat and it is an epidemic. There’s no getting away from that. It’s deep-rooted, it’s wide-reaching.”

Sioned Williams raised the NSPCC’s calls for sustainable long-term funding for specialist support for children and young people who are survivors of domestic violence.

Her Plaid Cymru colleague Luke Fletcher warned of the “corrosive” effect of social media, calling for a crackdown on misogynistic content targeted at young men.

Responding to the debate on November 13, Jane Hutt pointed to progress made in tackling violence against women and girls but she recognised “so much more needs to be done”.

Ms Hutt, who is Wales’ social justice secretary, highlighted horrifying statistics from July showing that two million women in the UK are victims of male violence every year.

She described domestic violence as a national emergency, with one woman killed by a man every three days and the number of recorded offences up 37% in the past five years.

She hailed the 20th anniversary of the Live Fear Free helpline, a free 24/7 service run by Welsh Women’s Aid and funded by the Welsh Government.

Ms Hutt said she raised evidence of failures in the justice system with Jess Phillips during a meeting with the UK minister

Politics

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

Published

20 hours ago

November 14, 2024

Chris Haines, ICNN Senedd reporter

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.”