Assembly now needs more AMs, says report

THE number of Assembly Members should increase from 60 to at least 80 or 90 to cope with its increasing workload, an independent report has concluded.

The report, published yesterday, also recommends that members should be elected by a more proportional system, for 16 and 17-year-olds to be able to vote in assembly elections and calls for all of the changes to be put in place ahead of the next elections in 2021.

Professor Laura McAllister, chair of the expert panel on Assembly Electoral Reform, which produced the report, acknowledged that calling for more politicians was not an “easy sell” but said they had looked at the size of other parliaments around the world and concluded that, with only 60 members, Wales was “ridiculously under-resourced”.

She said: “I would be the first person to acknowledge that calling for more politicians is unlikely to be popular anywhere.”

But she added: “By any measurable standards this place is too small to do its job effectively.”

The report said the estimated cost of having 20 extra members would be £6.6m annually plus a £2.4m one-off cost, while 30 additional members would cost £9.6m per year with a £3.3m one-off cost.

Prof McAllister said those figures represented around 0.08% of the Welsh Block Grant and that “good scrutiny pays for itself”.

AMs were given the powers to change the way they are elected with the introduction of the 2017 Wales Act.

The proposed changes will require a law to be passed in the assembly with a two-thirds majority.

Presiding officer Elin Jones said the Assembly Commission, the cross-party group which commissioned the study in February, would consult with the people of Wales on these “thorny, tricky issues” in early 2018, while there would also be consultation with political parties.

She said: “In 2015, the previous Assembly Commission concluded that with only 60 members, the National Assembly is underpowered and overstretched.

“They were far from the first to do so... this lack of capacity will not be resolved without bold action and we cannot afford to ignore it any longer.”

The panel looked at the additional powers which had been taken on by the assembly since devolution in 1999 when it had no primary law-making powers, before concluding that more assembly members were needed, Prof McAllister said.

The report recommends a new voting system – a proportional method called single transferable vote – with an integrated gender quota. It also suggests electoral law and assembly procedures should be changed to allow candidates to stand for election on the basis of transparent job share arrangements, with no additional costs beyond those of a single assembly member.

A spokesman for the Welsh Conservatives welcomed the report. He said: “Any changes to our Assembly and democratic processes must benefit the people of Wales and bring value for money for the taxpayer.

“It is with these principles in mind that we’ll now be carefully considering the report and its recommendations.”