Skip to main content

PETER AND RHODRI'S RED HERRING

A lot of attention has been given by the Western Mail to the joint press event held yesterday by Peter Hain and Rhodri Morgan.

According to their interpretation of the proposal by the Conservatives to cut down on the number of Welsh MPS, there would be a knock-on effect for the Assembly unless new legislation was introduced to change the way its members are elected.

The logic is that as the Government of Wales Act requires that the constituencies from which the 40 directly-elected AMs are chosen are identical to the ones used to send MPs to Westminster, both of them argued that this could result in an Assembly with just 30 constituency AMs and only 15 AMs from the top-up list.

I assume this calculation has been made because the 2006 Government of Wales act states that "the total number of seats for the Assembly electoral regions must be one half of the total number of the Assembly constituencies".

The Secretary of State for Wales then went on to state that "With the Richard Commission saying that the workload required 80 members, to turn the argument the other way around and actually reduce the number of Assembly members would be very, very serious..."

So taking that logic to its conclusion, then we would need roughly 53 parliamentary constituencies in Wales to enable the Richard Commission vision of having 80 members of the Assembly sitting in Cardiff Bay!

This would require a new Act of Parliament to enable this unlikely scenario to happen.

However, one would assume that any incoming Conservative Government, in changing the number of MPs across the UK, would also make legislative provision for changes to the Government of Wales Act to enable the regional list calculation to change accordingly i.e. this would allow for the reduction in the number of MPs whilst maintaining the current number of AMs, as has happened in Scotland.

Of course, if the reductions in MPs were to be made and the link maintained between Westminster and Cardiff Bay constituencies, this could mean that there would be 30 first past the post AMs elected and a further 30 from the regional lists.

I wonder what that would do to Labour's election prospects in any future Assembly election?

Comments

MH said…
We're discussing the same issue on Syniadau, if anyone wants to take a look.

http://syniadau--buildinganindependentwales.blogspot.com/2009/11/absurd-non-sequitur.html

There is a relatively simple way by which the numbers of AMs can be amended without it being necessary to revise the GoWA 2006 itself.

I also think that a more even balance between the numbers of FPTP and regional AMs would be good, because it will improve proportionality

... but still not as good as STV.
November 03, 2009 3:46 pm
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

THE IMPORTANCE OF FRANCHISING

When we talk about start-ups and entrepreneurship, rarely do we discuss the potential of franchising not only as a way of establishing new ventures in the economy but also as a method of growing existing businesses. According to the British Franchising Association, franchising is the granting of a licence by one person (the franchisor) to another (the franchisee), which entitles the franchisee to own and operate their own business under the brand, systems and proven business model of the franchisor. The franchisee also receives initial training and ongoing support, comprising all the elements necessary to establish a previously untrained person in the business. This enables individuals to start their own businesses without having to develop their own ideas and utilising an existing brand and established market. Of course, whilst each franchise business is owned and operated by the franchisee, the franchisor controls the quality and standards of the way in which the business is...
Read more

THE IMPORTANCE OF THE CREATIVE CLASSES

One of my favourite academic books of the last two decades must be the “Rise of the Creative Classes” by Professor Richard Florida.  This was one of the first detailed studies of the growing group of individuals who use their creativity and mental labour to earn a living and not only included those in arts and entertainment, but also people working in science and technology as well as knowledge-based professions such as healthcare, law, business, and finance.  Fast forward to 2022 and Professor Florida has written an updated report on the creative classes although he and his team now identify a different type of individual who is taking full advantage of the growth in digital platforms, social media, and online marketplaces.  Such ‘creators’ are defined as those who use digital technology to make and publish unique creative content, whether in the form of video, film, art, music, design, text, games, or any other media that audiences can access and respond to.  They ...
Read more

INTRAPRENEURSHIP

Whilst we often consider entrepreneurship to be associated predominantly with new start-ups, larger firms - in order to compete effectively in fast-changing global markets - are adopting more innovative and enterprising approaches to management within their organisations. One of these approaches is the development of entrepreneurship within a corporate environment (or intrapreneurship). Research has shown that intrapreneurship is not easy, and there are considerable differences between an intrapreneurial and a traditional corporate culture, with the latter having an emphasis on a culture and reward system that tends to favour caution in decision-making. For example, large businesses rarely operate on a "gut-feeling" for the market-place, as many entrepreneurs do. Instead, large amounts of data are gathered before any major business decision is made, not only for use in rational business decisions, but also for use as justification if the decision does not produce optimu...
Read more