Does Wales really want more AMs?

I ATTENDED the Aberystwyth public consultation meeting on March 15 to discuss changes to the Senedd that might result from additional powers devolved from Westminster under the Wales Act 2017 – in particular, as far as I was concerned, a proposed increase in the number of AMs from 60 to 90 at an additional cost of about £10m per annum.

Elin Jones, the Llywydd, admits this proposal is unlikely to be popular with the general public. The chair of the working party making the recommendation, Professor Laura McAllister, said: “I have no doubt that many will question whether money should be spent on more politicians at a time of austerity.”

As I understand it, a change of this nature requires a “supermajority” in favour of two-thirds (40 out of the 60) of AMs and that there is no political consensus to achieve this. It would need either a bipartisan agreement between Labour (currently 29 seats) and the Conservatives (12 seats) to enact any changes under the Wales Act, or a tripartite agreement with Labour and several of the smaller parties.

I wonder why the consultation is being carried out at all. It will be a courageous act by any political party to go against what seems to be the popular opinion. I think people are more concerned about having their dustbins emptied and road potholes filled than having more AMs.

About 50 people attended the Aberystwyth meeting. A similar exercise has or will be carried out in Swansea, Bangor and Wrexham. If they all have double the Aberystwyth attendance, then 350 (0.02%) people out of the Welsh electorate of some 2.25 million will have been reached.

In mid-2015 the Local Government Minister announced a proposal to reduce the number of county councils in Wales from 22 to about eight or nine. The impotence of the Assembly can be assessed from the fact that currently not a single council has been lost.

The method of electing AMs was discussed at the meeting. In my opinion, any system that results in the election of Neil Hamilton as one of our representatives is badly flawed. He represents Ukip – a party in freefall.

I have no doubt that many will question whether money should be spent on a consultation of this type at a time of austerity. Why was this expensive exercise started without first establishing there was the political will to put it into effect? David Kirby Aberystwyth