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Huw Irranca-Davies MP
(Ogmore)
House of Commons
London SW1A OAA
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Lord Richard QC
Richard Commission
Caradog House
1-6 Saint Andrews Place
Cardiff
CF10 3BE
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2003-06-23
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Dear Lord Richard
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I would be grateful if you would take
into consideration in respect of your current consultation
exercise relating to the powers and responsibilities
of the National Assembly for Wales (NAW). My comments
are fairly brief, but I do feel are reflective of the
views of many of my constituents.
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| In respect of the transfer of primary legislative powers
to the NAW I am in agreement that this is a desirable
outcome at some stage. However, I do not feel that we
have reached that moment yet. In order to ensure that
any future transfer of powers t the NAW is supported by
a democratic mandate in Wales, I would firmly suggest
tat a referendum of the views of the people of Wales should
be sought. Whilst this may not be deemed technically necessary,
as an advocate of further devolution of powers myself,
I feel it would be hugely desirable to achieve a strong
and clear mandate from the people of Wales for the further
devolution of powers, especially when the original referendum
to establish the NAW was won by such a narrow margin,
and subsequent election turnout have been disappointingly
low. |
| The case clearly needs to be made to the people of Wales
that (1) effective use of the existing powers to allow
for consistent improvements year on year in those areas
for which the NAW is responsible are demonstrated and
(2) that the case is made in the public domain that the
transfer of further powers will show proportionate results
in the further improvement in the areas of the devolved
powers. |
| I firmly believe that the NAW has already made a significant
difference to the people of Wales, but that perception.
is clearly not universally held among the public in Wales,
and therefore I feel we have to win the latter argument
before proceeding with further devolution of powers. |
| In respect of the proportional representation system
employed in the elections to the NAW, may I suggest that
this is an area that needs immediate and urgent address.
Firstly, whilst I would agree that all NAW members are
equal, they are also different. A constituency AM should
not be in some competitive situation with a regional AM,
when the latter chooses to represent themselves at a constituency
AM, and is able to "cherry pick" popular issues on which
to campaign, and ignore those which would cause most difficulty.
The AMs who are elected through the PR "top-up" system
should therefore be clearly differentiated from their
colleagues elected by first-past-the-post (FPTP). In
essence, the FPTP AM becomes the sole constituency representative,
whilst the top-up member assumes a different role. |
| May I make some tangible suggestions. Firstly, the top-up
AM should be given clearly differentiated roles and duties
that do not include constituency functions, but may include
enhanced responsibilities (for example in scrutiny functions)
in the NAW. Secondly, and related to the first point,
no additional funding should be given to the top-up AM
for constituency costs, to preclude their availing themselves
of an office within the constituency. Thirdly, the top-up
member should not be allowed to carry out traditional
constituency surgeries, however, clearly, there must be
opportunity for the top-up AM to solicit views out in
the wider community in some form. And finally, in order
to formally delineate the two types of AM the top-up members
should be elected from a national Wales list, and not
from a regional list. |
| One argument against the above proposal, that is frequently
put forward, is that his fails to deliver a party political
AM of various hues in each constituency, and thus disenfranchises
some of the electorate. I would strongly refute that,
and argue that the elected representative by FPTP is elected
to represent all of the community, and not simply to represent
those who supported one political party. To argue otherwise
is to denigrate the integrity and authority of elected
representatives who win their seats by FPTP. |
| I do hope that the above comments can be factored into
your on going deliberations. I should point out that I
do think it is both desirable and perhaps inevitable that
primary legislative powers will reside in the NAW before
too long. However, I hope I have made clear that this
must happen as a result of the will of the people of Wales,
and not as a result of the will of the political classes. |
| (Ogmore) |
| Tel: 0207 2194027 |
| Fax: 0207 2190134 |
| E-mail: irrancadaviesh@parliament.uk |
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