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.

SCME405 Ymateb gan: | Response from: Alan Roberts
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Good Morning

I've thought long and hard about the proposed Bill, which I'm sure with Labour and Plaid support will eventually pass, regardless of our comments.

My comments are as follows:

Additional numbers of members of the Senedd will inevitably cost a large amount of money. Not only for them but their support staff and all of the infrastructure involved with office space and of course expenses. I cannot see any justification for this, especially given the recent news that the Government in Wales is many millions in debt with cutbacks on almost all services. Where will the fuinding for this to come from?

Decreasing the number of years between elections will increase costs for Local Authorities and all the volunteers and staff who run these events. What purpose and what cost savings will there be.

I completely disagree with the closed list of elected members. We will have no input into our local representatives or what they stand for, simply voting for a party and then allowing those in charge of the party to decide who we get. This is a recipe for imposing the "party favourites" on us and is undemocratic.m

I hope to see a definitive description of what the Labour Party WAG thinks constitues a "woman" in their bid to have 50% of all members from women in Wales. The current media hype is not at all comforting.

Regards

Alan