Plans to increase the size of the Senedd by a third and abolish first-past-the-post voting and single-member constituencies for elections have been announced by the Welsh Government.
If the Bill is implemented there will be 96 Senedd members compared with the current 60, with the 40 constituencies electing a single representative by first-past-the-post and 20 additional members chosen proportionally from five regions, replaced.
Instead, there will be 16 enlarged constituencies across Wales, with six members elected in each area using the D’Hondt formula, which is currently used to elect the 20 additional members.
Instead of five-year terms, MSs will be elected for four-year terms and all candidates will have to live in Wales.
The maximum number of ministers appointed by the party forming the Government will be increased from 12 to 17, and there will be two deputy presiding officers instead of the current one.
Responding to news, Naomi Smith, CEO of Best for Britain said: “The UK, along with Belarus, is the only country in Europe still clinging to first past the post for national elections and while it’s good to see a Labour-led Government implementing democratic equality for voters in Wales, many will ask why the rest of the UK aren’t getting the same.
“Britain can’t wait another five years for our voting system to be improved and after Labour’s National Policy Forum rightly denounced our current unfair voting system, the next Government must expand fair votes to all.”
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