Cyflwynwyd yr ymateb hwn i ymgynghoriad y Pwyllgor Biliau Diwygio ar Fil Senedd Cymru (Aelodau ac Etholiadau).

This response was submitted to the Reform Bill Committee consultation on the Senedd Cymru (Members and Elections) Bill.

SCME299 Ymateb gan: | Response from: Keith Bradley
_____________________________________________________________________________________

Reform Bill Committee

Welsh Parliament

Cardiff

CF99 1SN

31^st October 2023

To whom it may concern.

As invited to do so please accept this letter as an objection to the entire Senedd Reform Bill. In whatever form it should take.

Please accept that I am an individual who lives in Wales, and will be affected by the imposition of this bill. I am over 18 yrs. I have no issue with my name being associated with this evidence, however I do not wish for my contact details to be made public. I have not marked this correspondence as confidential, and reserve the right to share this document with whomever I choose. However, the Welsh Parliament has its own Privacy and Confidentiality processes and procedures; therefore, it is expected that these will be adhered to whilst handling this correspondence.

This objection is founded on the principles of democracy and the democratic rights that have been given to the citizens of this country since Cromwell overthrew the Royalists and created Parliament. Since that time, no group, body, or organisation has dared to interfere with the democratic rights of individuals of this country.

Yet, here we are, with Welsh Labour intending to deny the individual access to a politician of choice. Where the individual must vote for the party, and not the politician.

They dare to change the right of the electorate to elect a politician of choice without a referendum, without the views of the majority. They dare because they believe they are above the history and the traditions of this land. They dare because it suits them, not because it has been asked for, not because there has been a national outcry, it is because the Welsh Labour Government want to exert more power and control of the citizens of Wales.

To elect a politician of choice is democratic, to be allocated one, is not. To have a politician allocated to you, is a demonstration of Power, Control and Oppression.

The proposed Senedd reform Bill is designed not to meet the needs of the citizen, but to meet the need of the Welsh Labour Party. A process to stifle involvement in politics, a process to silence dissent and a process to reduce the value of the individual.

Further evidence to this is how the citizens are allowed to communicate with their politicians. Correspondence sent to more than one named minister is not permitted. The Welsh citizen is not allowed to lobby, more than one politician at a time. Communication is restricted, stifled and not encouraged, demonstrating that the Welsh Parliament does not want interaction with the electorate.

To explain:

To vote for a party and not an individual, is to vote for the manifesto, the party plan.

Here in Wales, we have experienced that the first minister for Wales repeatedly has said, that ‘we’ the electorate, agree, with all that the Welsh Government is doing, a) because ‘we’ have voted Labour, & b) because all that they are doing is in the manifesto.

However, today 460000+ Welsh people have now said, they do not like what the Welsh Government is doing.

We the electorate have told the Welsh Government this via a petition. Yet, the ruling party, will not listen to the voice of the people, and ignores the voice of the people. All because there is a two lined entry, in the manifesto.

A two lined entry in a document that was issued four weeks prior to the election day. Weeks, even months after the hustings, electioneering by party faithful and individual politicians. Yet none of these interactions included the plans to reform the Senedd. Yet here we are being told that we agree with the plans. However, it is evident that we are not.

To complain and to raise our voices louder, we message our named, elected representatives. We remind them, that we voted for them, and that we placed our faith and trust in them. These individuals are our personal, individual connection to the political process, and what we feel to be our democratic right.

We believe we live in a democracy; we believe that we have rights, we also believe that we can change things. We form groups and connect with other like-minded people. We are social animals, with free spirits.

And then we meet Welsh Labour, who want to control us, dictate to us, take away years of democratic rule.

To vote for a party, and only the party, will take away, all our democratic rights to be involved, and to connect with our politicians of choice.

What the Welsh Labour Party propose is an abuse of power.

To explain:

It is only those who have power, can impose control. The more power they have, the more control is exerted. The more control they have, they assume they can do anything to those whom they control. However, by controlling, they deny the things that makes humans different from animals. The ability to adapt, be creative and to change.

Thus, the need to control, to deny, to oppress, to subjugate, to dictate, because if you do not control, you allow individual thought. And once that is allowed control is lost.

Hence the need for Welsh Labour to control.

Welsh Labour NEED to control the citizens, to maintain their power, they must maintain control. Hence the need to dispense with named politicians and to create the power base by the promotion and establishment of the single entity, the party.

The Senedd Reform Bill is the mechanism, the machine, that is designed to maintain, control, to maintain the power over the electorate. The ultimate tool to reduce individual input, reduce individual involvement, reduce individual thought, and to reduce individual choice.

Therefore, reducing the value of the individual.

And we thought we lived in a democracy.

Please accept this message as an objection to the Senedd Reform Bill.

· The Bill is intended to meet the needs of the Senedd and not the needs of the citizens of Wales.

· The Bill will deny the citizen to vote for an individual of choice.

· The Bill will further distance the Senedd from the electorate.

· The Bill will increase the tax burden of the citizens of Wales.

· The Bill will increase the elements to power and control the Welsh Government has over the citizens of Wales, and decrease citizens involvement with politics

· The Bill is designed to be oppressive, exclusive, and dictatorial. The direct opposite to what Democracy means.

Kind regards

Keith Bradley