The Secretary of State for Wales, Peter Hain MP has launched a White Paper entitled 'Better Governance for Wales'. The White paper sets out the Governments proposals for legislation to change the provisions currently in the Government of Wales Act 1998 in three respects:
- To create a new executive structure for the Assembly
- To give the Assembly enhanced legislative powers
- To deal with some problems in the electoral system
Key points
Voter turnout
The Government has agreed with recommendations made in The Electoral Commissions report on the Assembly elections in 2003. The paper states
'The Electoral Commission's report on the 2003 Assembly elections drew attention to the limits on the Assembly's current powers to arrange for public information campaigns to promote participation in its elections. The Government agrees with the Commission that it would be beneficial if the Assembly had such powers, and appropriate provision for this will be made in the Bill implementing the changes described in this White Paper.'
The report makes the following other suggestions in relation to electoral matters:
The Government have rejected recommendations from Richard Commission who recommended that the number of Assembly Members should be increased from 60 to 80, and that they should be elected through the Single Transferable Vote (STV) system, with all Assembly Members being elected from multi-member constituencies.
Proposals to change the provisions currently in the Government of Wales Act (section 5) to prevent individuals from simultaneously being candidates in constituency elections andbeing eligible for election from party lists (as happened in Clwyd West in 2003).
Provision to call an Assembly election in advance of the end of the four-year term.
Referendum
The Assembly would be given full law-making powers only after a referendum, but Peter Hain believes that there is "no case" for one until after 2011.
Timescale for implementation of changes
The Government will start to implement the changes regarding creating a new Parliamentary protocol for drafting and dealing with Assembly legislation immediately. Legislation on the other matters will be introduced in the current Parliamentary session with a view to implementation of the proposals at the time of Assembly elections on 3 May 2007.
For more information, please visit:
http://www.walesoffice.gov.uk/
