20 years on, creating a 21st century Parliament that works for Wales
Jane Hutt has been an AM since the very first day the Assembly gathered in Cardiff Bay. Here, she lays out the reforms she wants to see so the nation can have the Parliament it deserves...
WHEN young people ask how long I have been an Assembly Member and I respond, ‘nearly 20 years,’ I realise that this is before they were born.
The Assembly, soon to become the Welsh Parliament, has always been part of their lives and doesn’t feel new to them as it still does to many of us who want to take the opportunities to make more progress with devolution; to make it meaningful in their lives.
I was pleased to take part in the recent Senedd debate on the Assembly Commission consultation ‘Creating a Parliament for Wales’ following the Expert Panel’s report last year.
I made particular reference to the panel’s recommendations to widen the participation of women and young people in the Assembly.
The debate took place in the week we celebrated the centenary of partial suffrage for women, and I took the opportunity to remember the pioneers, a century ago, who fought for women to get the vote.
I questioned what would they think about the terms of the debate?
How would they reflect on our ‘gains and losses’ over the past 20 years of seeking to enhance women’s representation in the Assembly?
I am sure that those who fought for our right to vote 100 years ago would have supported the Labour Party’s positive action leading up to the establishment of the Assembly, with the twinning of constituencies and the historic 50:50 representation in 2003.
It did result in unprecedented numbers of Labour women being elected in 1999, including myself.
Indeed, I was twinned with the First Minister, Carwyn Jones.
And how proud the Suffragettes would be in our constituencies to see that gender equality was achieved in 2003, largely due to that positive action.
But, sadly, we have slipped back from that ground-breaking achievement and we need to address that.
We can use the opportunity in all political parties to explore the recommendations in the report which seek to take us forward and address this issue.
On July 12 we launched the first Cross Party Group on Women sponsored by myself, Sian Gwenllian AM and Suzy Davies AM, attracting a wide range of representatives from women’s organisations in Wales coordinated by the Women’s Equality Network.
Our first speaker was Professor Laura McAllister who chaired the Expert Panel.
There was a positive response to her presentation as she highlighted the benefits of gender quotas, job sharing and candidate diversity information with Panel recommendations to follow these up.
The Assembly Members attending were urged to press for these reforms. The way we move forward with these recommendations must be informed by the widest consultationnot just with political parties but with civic society.
We were told at the Cross Party Group that more action was needed to achieve gender equality in the Assembly and we must listen to that message and act on it.
We will be radical and far sighted when we enfranchise 16 and 17 year olds-their voices will be strong and clear in the direction we take in promoting equality and diversity in the Assembly.
This will be strengthened by the new Welsh Youth Parliament.
The Richards Report was mentioned in the debate.
In 2002, let’s remember, it was First Minister Rhodri Morgan who announced an independent commission, chaired by the Labour peer, Lord Ivor Richards of Ammanford, to examine the powers and electoral arrangements of the Assembly.
He reported in 2004 and his recommendations were radical, relevant and many have been delivered – such as the Assembly gaining primary lawmaking powers and the corporate body structure being replaced with the Executive and legislature.
As far as the size of the Assembly is concerned, Lord Richard recommended in 2004 that we should move to 80 Members.
In 2018 the Expert Panel concluded that the Assembly needs to have between 80 and 90 Members to carry out its role effectively and this question was asked again in the Commission’s recent consultation.
The Women’s Equality Network representing a wide range of women’s organisations in Wales, has backed an increase to 80 as ‘essential in order to enable AMs to increase their scrutiny of Welsh legislation and Welsh Government policies’. I welcome and support their view. As we move forward with new leadership in every party and extended powers under the 2017 Government of Wales Act, we must take responsibility for progressing equality and diversity in Wales, ensuring we can undertake our duties and prove our worth as elected representatives.
As one of the original founder AMs, proud to be elected in 1999 doing the ‘heavy lifting’ as a local AM, as a Minister and backbencher, clear about my social justice principles and life purpose, I want us to take the steps now to make our Assembly a Parliament that works for Wales with women and young people at the forefront of that endeavour.