Diolch, Llywydd. Can I, from the outset, make it absolutely clear that we on this side of the Chamber have no issue with Plaid Cymru filling the vacancies on the Public Accounts Committee and the Petitions Committee? We also have no issue with Neil McEvoy taking a place on the Petitions Committee as an additional Member. Indeed, we think that he should take that place. However, we believe that these changes should not take place without also changing the allocation of committee Chairs.

Given that the political balance of the Assembly has changed once again, it’s even clearer that the Welsh Conservative group is the largest opposition group. Therefore, I want to once again put on record this afternoon my extreme disappointment that that the current allocation of committee Chairs continues to not accurately reflect the relative sizes of each of the party groups. As the Welsh Conservative group continues to be the second largest group in this place, it’s only right that that is reflected amongst the allocation of committee Chairs. Indeed, the Presiding Officer has also concluded that business managers must have regard to the need to ensure that the allocation of committee Chairs is politically balanced. As the Business Committee’s report notes, and I quote:

‘Whilst the Llywydd is satisfied that Business Managers have been aware of that requirement during their discussions, she does not agree with the majority view on the Committee that the current allocation is acceptable in fulfilling that requirement.’

Therefore, it’s my view that the Assembly should honour and respect the Presiding Officer’s determination because anything else, in my view, is disrespecting the Chair. The Presiding Officer makes it absolutely clear that a situation where the Plaid Cymru group has more Chairs than the Conservative group is clearly anomalous, and so the Business Committee should abide by that. Of course, the current number of Members now stands at 12 for the Welsh Conservatives and 10 for Plaid Cymru, and yet Plaid Cymru has more committee Chairs and more committee places than the Welsh Conservatives. So, it won’t surprise Members to hear that my view has not changed since we last discussed this issue in this Chamber. I believe that this is unacceptable, deeply undemocratic and frankly worrying that the National Assembly for Wales continues to operate in this manner. As a result, we, on this side of the Chamber, will be objecting to these motions as a matter of principle, given that these particular changes have taken place without changing the committee Chairs, given the Assembly’s current political balance.

I’m disappointed that business managers from other parties are not convinced that a change needs to be made on the basis that committee Chairs should have security of tenure. The role of Business Committee is not to keep Chairs in their positions come-what-may, but to reflect the ever-changing political landscape of the Assembly. To chair a committee is a privilege, not a given, and if the political landscape changes, surely Members must all respect that and be mature enough to reflect any new political balance.

In the report, the Labour Party’s business manager has raised the question of the permanence of the current balance, given that Neil McEvoy is currently suspended rather than expelled from the Plaid Cymru group, and, of course, that’s ultimately a matter for Plaid Cymru to determine. Her view is that there is a possibility that the allocation of Chairs may therefore need to be revisited again by the Business Committee. Yes, that’s true, but why are we making other changes if the situation isn’t permanent? Surely, following that logic, we shouldn’t be making any changes at all? And in any case, the Presiding Officer has determined that Neil McEvoy is no longer a member of the Plaid Cymru group and this institution should respect that determination.

It is simply not right that an opposition party in this institution with fewer Members than another opposition party has more committee Chairs, and this could have serious implications in the future for this institution. In the year of the twentieth anniversary of devolution, is this really the message that the Assembly wants to send to the people of Wales? If this situation is allowed to continue, then it has become clear that the majority of this Assembly no longer supports a balanced Assembly that reflects the political balance of its Members. Therefore, Llywydd, I believe that this is yet another sad day for the National Assembly and its operations, and a sad day for our constitution.

Moving forward, I sincerely hope that this Assembly will eventually deliver an outcome that reflects the political balance of this institution when co-ordinating Assembly business, so that the people of Wales can have full confidence that the Assembly is working in a fully open, transparent and democratic manner.