Senedd Cymru (Members and Elections) Act 2024

The Richard Commission report of 2004 suggested an increase in the number of Members to 80. That number was also suggested, as a minimum, by the 2014 report of the Silk Commission. Similarly, in 2013 and 2016, the Electoral Reform Society published reports making the case for enlarging the Assembly. A 2017 report of an expert commission led by Laura McAllister suggested an increase to between 80 and 90 Members, switching to single transferable vote (STV) and enforcing gender quotas. There was no cross-party consensus on any of these measures in 2017. A Special Committee was set up on 6 October 2021, composed of five members representing each party, as well as the Llywydd of the Senedd. They held public and private meetings on the issues. In May 2022, a joint position statement was published by First Minister Mark Drakeford and Plaid Cymru Leader Adam Price, and sent to the Special Committee. In it, they called for a 96-Member Senedd, all elected through closed party list proportional representation (using the D'Hondt method) with mandatory "zipping" of male and female candidates in the list to ensure that for every party, half of the candidates will be women (unlike the voluntary all-women shortlists used by the Labour Party). With a reduction in the number of Welsh MPs and new constituency boundaries being proposed for the next UK general election, the Senedd elections were proposed to be organised in 16 six-member regions created by pairing up the 32 redrawn Westminster constituencies. Although the Expert Panel preferred the single transferable vote to any other method, the closed list PR system was favoured by the Committee over its capacity to enforce gender quotas through mandatory zipping, although the gender quotas rule was later abandoned. Further proposals In February 2023, plans for additional reform included: • Candidates must be resident in Wales • A defection of an MS to another party is not permitted. An MS would instead have to become an independent. • Independent candidates must disclose any party membership. In September 2023, it was also proposed job sharing among Welsh Government ministers also be considered. == Opposition to the reforms ==

Welsh Conservatives have opposed the Senedd's expansion plan, which they fear would be costly, and have called for a referendum, arguing that only a public mandate can give legitimacy to such a reform. In 2022, the sentiment was also expressed by the Conservative UK Government Welsh Secretary Simon Hart. His deputy, Conservative MP David TC Davies, told his party conference that the reform plan would "lock in a Labour government forever" and "concentrate power in the hands of a few party managers". On 10 May 2022, Conservative MS Darren Millar resigned from the Committee in disagreement to the Drakeford-Price joint statement, saying "Wales needs more doctors, dentists, nurses and teachers, not more politicians in Cardiff Bay". ==Provisions==

and First Minister Vaughan Gething hold up the Act after it gained royal assent on 24 June 2024 On 18 September 2023, the Welsh Government published its plans for electoral reform as part of the proposed Senedd Cymru (Members and Elections) Bill. The number of Senedd constituencies is set to fall to 16, which would be pairings of the proposed 32 constituencies in Wales for Westminster elections. Each constituency would elect six MSs from a closed list under the D'Hondt method. Under the proposals, all candidates must live in Wales, and elections would take place every four years rather than five. The first minister is proposed to have the power to appoint 17 rather than the current 12 ministers, plus the counsel general, to the Welsh Government, and the number of ministers could be increased to 18/19, pending further Senedd approval. There is also the addition of another deputy presiding officer. The Bill did not take forward the proposals to enshrine a gender balanced Senedd in law amid doubts over whether the Senedd has the power to pass such a law under the existing devolution settlement. These changes were eventually introduced in the Senedd Cymru (Electoral Candidate Lists) Bill on 11 March 2024, but abandoned in September 2024. Constituencies • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • Review: • Initial proposals of 16 constituencies • Revised proposals of 16 constituencies • Final proposals of 16 constituencies == Notes ==