7. Debate: Voter Inclusion

Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 6:20 pm on 9 November 2021.

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Photo of Mick Antoniw Mick Antoniw Labour 6:20, 9 November 2021

I think that sums up the position of a lot of young people and comments I had yesterday. Can I also make this point? Darren Millar said 'Well, you know, if you're so concerned about this, why aren't you legislating?' Well, that's the whole point. We will be legislating. What we are doing is saying to the UK Government that we don't want their proposals to apply to the Welsh elections—that is, the local council and the Senedd elections. We will reform to modernise and consolidate our electoral system. Now, I did say this in my speech. Unfortunately, I suspect Darren Millar's comments were written before he'd actually had an opportunity to listen to what I said. Wasn't it interesting also that he said in the coronavirus passports debate, 'But there is no evidence', yet he wants to see restrictions here on voting, despite the fact that there is no evidence whatsoever.

I won't go into the detail of it now, but the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development and the Electoral Commission, that is not what they say. I have the OECD report. I have read the full reports. In fact, the most recent report doesn't say anything about it, but what you have commented is actually distortion and out of context of what they're actually saying. 

Rhys ab Owen, can I just thank you for your comments as well, and all the other Members for the comments that have been made today? The reason why the four councils have been selected is because they were the four that applied. We invited every council. I'm disappointed that we didn't have some others, perhaps from north Wales and from the rural areas, but those are the ones that applied, and everyone that applied has been accepted onto that pilot. But we do take on board those particular points. And I agree very much with what you say about the issue of civic knowledge, civic education, because I think that is where we begin to prepare people for adulthood and for life, and, of course, there are issues about that with the curriculum, and also with regard to foreign nationals.

And can I just comment then on Darren Millar's comments about voter ID cards? Can I just say to Darren Millar that voter ID cards are a recipe for tyranny and oppression? [Interruption.] And that's why I'm obliged—.

'If I'm obliged to have one by the emanations of the state, I will grind it up and eat it on my cornflakes.'

Those were the comments of Boris Johnson in 2004, and it's probably the only thing he's ever said that I actually agree with.

So, can I thank all Members for their comments and their contributions? But let me be totally frank and direct to all Members in concluding my comments with a warning. We have a UK Tory Government that is strategically and deliberately unravelling long-established democratic structures and rights. We have seen in recent days the extent to which they are prepared to go to undermine the maintenance of standards in Westminster. Democracy in the UK is under threat, slowly, bit by bit, but definitely and deliberately.

Voter suppression through the introduction of ID cards is a deliberate policy that has come from the right wing of the Republican Party in the US, with whom the Prime Minister and his colleagues have been in such close contact. Their proposed extension of the right to vote to non-doms who have now lived abroad, which is included within the UK Government's Elections Bill, for over 15 years—so, people who have not lived in this country for over 15 years—has but one objective and it isn't the furtherance of democracy. It is to legitimise political donations from millionaires and billionaires living abroad. Legislative proposals to introduce ouster clauses to prevent the courts from reviewing unlawful acts of the UK Government is a direct threat to the rule of law.

In the last set of mayoral elections in England, Labour won 11 of the 13 seats. What is the response of the UK Government? Well, it isn't to look at ways of re-engaging with voters in those areas; it is to change the voting system to make it more difficult for non-Conservative candidates to win. There are proposals to establish political control over the operation of the Electoral Commission. You referred to its independence; the Bill actually seeks to give political control over the Electoral Commission, and if proceeded with will undermine its independence.

And we have also seen, via the United Kingdom Internal Market Act 2020 and recent spending review, that levelling-up money is being overwhelmingly targeted at attempting to buy votes in Tory seats in England and Wales. That is Tammany Hall politics. Llywydd, if this was happening in Russia—[Interruption.] If this was happening in Russia, Llywydd, we would be calling it by what it is—