Rhys ab Owen: When people with disabilities are disenfranchised, when ethnic minority voters are disenfranchised, when working class voters are disenfranchised, we need to be worried. That's why this Senedd and every Member should oppose this Bill and oppose any attempt to disenfranchise our citizens. This Senedd should not be a junior partner in the hollowing out of the democratic and human rights of our...
Rhys ab Owen: Heledd, Peredur and Sioned have clearly set out the facts—the official facts, facts from the Westminster Government's, and clear statistics showing that people will lose their right to vote. I second the comment made by Jane Dodds in praising the work of Maddy and the young group who are battling this Bill and battling for their right to vote.
Rhys ab Owen: Diolch yn fawr, Llywydd. I think Darren Millar said four times he was disappointed with my contribution. It reminded me of being a four-year-old again, back in the headmistress's office. When it comes to constitutional matters, if I'm disappointing Darren Millar, I think I'm probably doing something right. I certainly wasn't disappointed with your contribution, Darren Millar; I didn't expect...
Rhys ab Owen: At a time when turnout for elections is low, with general elections sitting at around 60 per cent, and with the Senedd struggling to reach 50 per cent, why would we want to limit people and dissuade them from sharing their voices and their opinions with us? Anyone who supports this Bill—and I'm looking at my friends who usually sit opposite me in the Siambr—should never again criticise...
Rhys ab Owen: Experiments with voter ID just show that it leads to fewer people voting. In the Westminster pilot in 2019, of the 1,000 that were rejected because they didn't have ID, 338 of them—a third of them—didn't return. In another pilot, where it was possible to show photographic ID or two other pieces of specific ID without a picture, 2,000 were rejected. This time 750 didn't return. These...
Rhys ab Owen: On top of this, it erodes the independence of the Electoral Commission. Clause 12 sets out the commission needs to follow the strategy and policy statement of the Westminster Government. This sets out priorities on electoral matters and principles that the commission are expected to operate and then have their performance measured against that statement created by the Westminster Government....
Rhys ab Owen: My colleagues Heledd Fychan, Peredur Owen Griffiths and Sioned Williams will discuss the impact of this Bill on the citizens of our nation. I would like to focus on the impact on our Senedd. Although the Bill doesn't directly impact devolved elections, the indirect impact is clear for all to see. First of all, the Bill will mean that ID will be required for police and crime commissioner...
Rhys ab Owen: Or, to use the words of Gerallt Lloyd Owen, 'a man who never caught the tide.'
Rhys ab Owen: At least the Scottish Conservatives have questioned their leadership in Westminster, but the Welsh Conservatives say nothing. They sit on their hands, no whine, no whimper, and remain totally anonymous and totally irrelevant in the eyes of their masters in Westminster.
Rhys ab Owen: This is your opportunity, colleagues, to say, 'Enough is enough.'
Rhys ab Owen: Or will you only bark when Boris says, 'Bark'? Forget Dilyn, the No. 10 Downing Street dog, for a moment; it's their leader in the Senedd, that's Johnson's poodle, even though they don't know his name. But at least he had a prize yesterday for being a good boy.
Rhys ab Owen: One conviction of voter impersonation in 2017; zero in 2018; none in 2019. They are willing to disenfranchise millions of our own citizens, their own voters, to stop one account of voter fraud. If ever the overused adage of using a sledgehammer to crack a nut is true, it's true in this case. There is no justification at all for this heavy-handed response. The Conservatives will sit here,...
Rhys ab Owen: The Conservative Members here can shake their heads as much as they like. You can argue that the aim of Boris Johnson and his crew is to protect democracy, but I very much hope that you have enough sense and integrity to realise how unnecessary the introduction of voter ID is. The cases of voter fraud are so small.
Rhys ab Owen: Look at the evidence as a whole, at the Tory Government's action on the whole. They want to restrict protest, they want to strip people of citizenship without providing any justification. They want to stop our courts from quashing secondary legislation that is incompatible with human rights. They want to tackle so-called 'rights inflation'—that's too much human rights, to you and me. They...
Rhys ab Owen: Voting is the foundation of our democracy, Dirprwy Lywydd. It's where extraordinary possibilities become reality through a mere cross in a box. It has led to the foundation of the national health service, the creation of the welfare state and the establishment of our national parliament, our Senedd. The ballot box is where dreams and aspirations do come true. It's where decisions about the...
Rhys ab Owen: We need very detailed scrutiny before any limitations on the right to vote are introduced, such as the introduction of ID. You need robust evidence that is properly analysed. Certainly, there's no place for ideology in influencing any decisions. The Conservatives will seek to portray this as a reasonable decision, but, in speaking to a jury in a court of law, I would always tell them to look...
Rhys ab Owen: Thank you very much, Deputy Llywydd. From the Chartists to the Suffragettes, people have literally given their lives to ensure that we have the right to vote on these islands, and, across the centuries, the great battle was to gain more rights, and that happened again recently in Wales as we extended the franchise to young people of 16 and 17 years old. Any attempt to limit the right to vote...
Rhys ab Owen: Thank you very much. As a son of the capital city, it's been wonderful to see the growth in the use of the Welsh language and to hear the Welsh language around me as I walk the streets of the capital. As you said, one of the highlights of the social calendar in Cardiff is the Tafwyl festival, and it was a great loss that it wasn't staged during the first year of the pandemic. It was wonderful...
Rhys ab Owen: Minister, last week, my team arranged a very interesting meeting between the residents of Gwaelod-y-garth in north-west Cardiff and Rod King—I'm sure you're familiar with him—an expert on road safety and the founder of 20's Plenty for Us. Now, Mr King was full of praise for the road-safety policies of the Welsh Government, but one point he made was that drivers needed to be more aware of...
Rhys ab Owen: 7. What steps is the Welsh Government taking to make the Welsh language as accessible as possible in Cardiff? OQ57508
