Will such a long wait be worth it?

SUPPORTERS of enlarging the Senedd have had to wait a long time – and last night came the vote that formally approves the expansion of the home of Welsh democracy to 96 members.

It was 20 years ago this spring that Lord Ivor Richard’s review of the then National Assembly set the tone for every discussion of the institution’s future that has followed and recommended increasing the number of members.

The Richard Commission became known primarily for its recommendation to expand the institution from 60 AMs to 80.

Mining engineer’s son Lord Richard, who grew up in Betws before launching into a career in the law and politics that led him to become Britain’s ambassador to the United Nations and a European Commissioner, died in 2018 and we will never know what he thought of the solution Labour and Plaid have cooked up to the conundrum he identified back in 2004 of how the enlarged institution should be elected.

In a stroke of self-serving politiking, the power-brokers of the two parties agreed to a system that will put them in the driving seat.

The plan voted through in Cardiff Bay will see 96 members elected, three for each constituency.

All the politicians will be chosen from a list that puts the people who draw up those lists firmly in charge, leaves individual politicians at the mercy of party committees and profoundly limits an individual’s ability to carve out a distinctive niche in Welsh politics.

There will be no politicians like Blaenau Gwent’s Peter Law or Tatton’s Martin Bell in the future of Welsh politics and the institution will be significantly diminished as a result.

The Labour/Plaid stitch-up also decreases the chances of smaller parties getting a seat in the Senedd, further weakening its relationship with the people it hopes to represent.

There were many other options the parties could have chosen.

Lord Richard recommended a single transferable vote.

It had its drawbacks but was far less party-motivated.

They say good things come to those who wait.

Supporters of expanding the Senedd have certainly had to wait, but the jury is out on whether the newly-enlarged Senedd, which will cost at least £120m, will deliver an institution with the public engagement and support of which they have dreamed.

We will be watching.