Plaid Ifanc calls out Welsh Government on hypocrisy over Votes at 16
Most of Wales woke up today thinking of the freezing temperatures, panicking about Christmas shopping, or generally dreading their journey to work. However, in a small corner of Cardiff Bay, a panel of experts was announcing, to a not unimpressive (for Senedd events) sized audience, that Wales should have a significant increase in its number of Assembly Members, a change in voting system, and a lowering of the voting age to 16.
This panel of experts was commissioned to consider issues around how we elect our AMs by the National Assembly for Wales, with cross-party support.
Its report came as no shock to anyone who works in, or spends a lot of time around, our Assembly. It’s clear that AMs are overworked. Many sit on multiple Committees, as well as being Shadow Cabinet Secretaries or Ministers. They also take part in an incredible number of Cross-Party Groups, attend Plenary, deal with Constituency business, attempt to stay on top of their brief, and scrutinise legislation and government performance.
It cannot possibly be argued that Wales enjoys sufficient scrutiny of its government. People bang on about Wales’ weak indigenous media, but that’s because it’s a major factor in Wales’ political immaturity.
Any opportunity to improve public inspection of the Welsh Government should be welcomed. An extra 30 AMs should lead to an improvement in policy and legislation. With a planned reduction of MPs from Wales (from the current 40 to 29), and our imminent departure from the EU and subsequent loss of MEPs, an increase in AMs would also - hopefully – shift more media attention onto our own National Parliament.
A more proportional voting system should hopefully lead to more policy dynamism and a greater feeling among the Welsh electorate that they have a stake in the goings on in the Senedd. Reducing the voting age to 16 could have similar effects with the added bonus of setting our own political institutions apart from the British Parliament. These effects would surely be even clearer as a result of the report’s recommendations around improving gender equality in the Assembly.
Plaid Ifanc has long campaigned for Votes at 16. We are not the only ones who have done so. We’re also not the only party political youth movement in Wales to have done so. The Lib Dems’, the Greens’, and Labour’s youth movements have also pressed the case for lowering the voting age.
When this report was released, Plaid Ifanc was of course confident that our own parent party would support its recommendations. A statement was quickly released, acknowledging that the report had hit the nail on the head.
We had also expected the Labour Party to do the right thing in this case. After all, they had committed themselves to introducing votes at 16 as early as possible in their 2016 Assembly manifesto. (p.20).
Their response took us all by surprise.
Instead of celebrating the fact that their policy of introducing votes at 16 had bee supported by an expert report, they decided, in one short statement, to abandon yet again, all those young people who had put their faith in that party to bring about the radical changes to our democracy that they wanted to see.
Labour decided that rather than do the honest, common-sense, decent thing, and pledge their support to putting this report’s recommendations into practise as soon as possible, they will wait until 2019 before making their decision.
There is no logic to be found in this. The expert report which they initially supported has given them all the evidence they need. The only conclusion that anyone can possibly gain from this decision is that this is a cynical attempt to derail the implementation of these recommendations until after the 2021 election.
As Simon Thomas AM said, this move “kills dead any hope of passing the necessary legislation before the next assembly elections”.
It would seem that Labour are doing all they can to lock in their unfair electoral advantage for one more election, even if it comes at the cost of their integrity, and at the cost of all those young people who relied on them.
Labour’s betrayal on this very issue is sufficient proof of why we urgently need to improve the scrutiny of our Government. This report represents a significant step in the right direction.
Rhydian Elis Fitter
