Responding to comments made in an interview today (Wed 19 May) by Mark Drakeford regarding his and his government’s views on increasing the size of the Senedd, Leader of the Welsh Liberal Democrats Jane Dodds MS said:
“Our political system needs fixing, changing just one aspect alone won’t fix it and we need to look at the whole system. The comments today from the First Minister are encouraging and I hope he will be true to his word.
“Welsh Liberal Democrats are prepared to work with other parties in order to strengthen and improve our parliament including increasing the number of Senedd Members by 20-30 in line with the 2017 McAllister Review.
“This option should be made cost neutral by the planned reduction in the number of Westminster MPs by the UK Government.
“Increasing the number of Senedd Members whilst providing much more scrutiny and voices will go someway to fixing and strengthening our political system, however any change to the number of MSs should also go hand in hand with the introduction of a proportional voting system, for Senedd elections to make sure that every vote counts and every member elected is elected by the majority of voters.
“We call on other forward looking and progressive parties to join us.
“We would also like to see greater fiscal devolution to Wales, along with the devolution of Justice, which would enable us to get rid of the four Welsh Police and Crime Commissioners too.”
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