Devolution has been an expensive failure with the Welsh electorate

SIR – It has been reported that in Wales fewer than 50 per cent of the electorate have ever voted in the Welsh government elections since this devolved body was created.

Yet Senedd numbers are now to increase from 60 to 96, at an estimated cost of £17.8 million. This sum could be better spent on the NHS, social care or education. Martin Everett

Tintern, Monmouthshire

SIR – Last week the Senedd passed the Senedd Cymru (Members and Elections) Bill.

As a result, from 2026, candidates to the expanded Welsh government will be elected by means of a proportional closed list system, so that the electorate will vote for a party rather than an individual.

In future, should a member of the Senedd follow the example of Natalie Elphicke and switch allegiance between elections, would they then be required to resign and be replaced by the next person down the list at the time of the original election? Phillip Alderman

Ponthir, Monmouthshire

SIR – Devolution has been a disaster at all levels. Motivated by Tony Blair’s hope to strengthen the grip of Labour, the initiative has backfired, proving divisive and costly. Scotland and Wales have gained little or nothing from their efforts, underperforming in all metrics and costing the English dear. Northern Ireland, always a “special case”, has continued to present an enormous headache which was crudely exploited by Brussels in the Brexit settlement. To think that Scotland and Wales have their own parliaments with all the trappings and administrative costs is ludicrous. The gamesmanship played during the pandemic exposed the desperate cynical aims of the devolved parliaments.

A referendum to return to the pre-devolution situation is regrettably unlikely to take place but we, and not just the English, must do everything we can to stop further transfer of power to the provinces and to strengthen the Union.

Tim Lovett

Claygate, Surrey

SIR – Our fellow citizens in Scotland have in effect been abandoned to the devices of incompetent, mediocre and sometimes corrupt politicians.

It is completely insane to increase the number of Senedd members for a Welsh government that has presided over the never-ending calamity that is the Welsh NHS, in addition to a plummeting economy, lower tourism and poorer educational standards.

The tragedy is that Wales never really wanted devolution; that was New Labour’s idea in 1997.

Millions of British people in Scotland and Wales have been consigned to government by inept politicians from which we have no means of escape.

Wayne Morgan

Tonyrefail, Glamorgan