P-06-1309 The Welsh Government should hold a referendum before expanding the size of the Senedd

This petition was submitted by Richard Taylor, having collected a total of 1,633 signatures.

Text of Petition:                    

Welsh Labour in a cooperation agreement with Plaid Cymru are proposing to increase the numbers of Members of the Senedd from 60 to 96. Neither party laid out this number in their manifestos in recent elections. The people of Wales should be asked via a referendum if they want to expand the Senedd, as this proposal will lead to a lack of proportionality in representation. Public services and the NHS in Wales are suffering badly and this should not be the Welsh Government’s priority costing Welsh tax payers millions.

Status

This petition was considered completed by the Petitions Committee at its meeting on 09/01/2023.

The Committee considered the petition and Joel James noted his support for a referendum. Other Members noted that issue has been considered in great detail by a number of Senedd Committees, all recommending the need to increase the number of Members of the Senedd to enable effective scrutiny of the Welsh Government. The Welsh Government will also bring forward a Senedd Reform Bill in the new year which will be a further opportunity for these issues to be debated and scrutinised in the Senedd. In light of this the Committee agreed to close the petition and thank the petitioner.

Full details of the consideration of this petition by the Committee and related documents can be seen on the Meetings tab above.

It was first considered by the Petitions Committee on 09/01/2023.

Senedd Constituency and Region

• Monmouth
• South Wales East

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