3. What steps will the Welsh Government take to encourage participation in elections in Wales? OQ57249

I thank the Member for raising this issue, and for the question. I issued written statements on 29 July and 9 November about our programme of electoral reform. We will use the local government elections next May to test different ways of voting and ensure elections in Wales are as accessible as possible and that everyone who wants to vote can vote, and that their vote will be counted.

I thank the Counsel General for that answer. Counsel General, like many Members of the Senedd, I was very pleased to hear the Welsh Government announcement on flexible voting pilots, which will make it easier for people to vote, but, at the same time, I think we have a regrettable direction of travel from UK Government in terms of its voter ID proposals, which will reduce turnout and particularly disenfranchise members of more marginalised sections of our population.

The next set of elections for us here in Wales, as you mentioned, Counsel General, are the local elections next year. So, I just wondered, with the general background in terms of what Welsh Government is doing but also worries about UK Government proposals, how Welsh Government is considering ensuring that we do have as good a turnout as we might have in those local elections in Wales next year.

Thank you for those comments, and I think it's fair to say also that—I think the Member referred to the initiatives under way, the pilots—they've been received with incredible popularity. I think the comments are positive comments, with people saying, 'Yes, these are sensible ideas', and they are. They are only pilots—they're there to test the way, I think, for electoral legislation that we hope to bring to reform, to modernise and to bring our electoral system into the twenty-first century.

I think it is also fair to say, about the proposals by the UK Government, that it's not intended that they will apply to Welsh elections, and, in any event, the UK Government's legislation is unlikely to come into force before or even be completed by the time of the May 2022 council elections.

So, the local government elections in May do give us an opportunity to work at improving the accessibility, and, of course, there is work under way as part of those pilots. Some of the work also is in terms of registration and the support we've given financially to the issue of electoral registration, because it is important that we do everything we can to maximise electoral registration, because no democracy has validity if significant numbers of people either are not registered to participate or in fact do not participate. So, we have to see this as part of the democratic health of Wales and I hope, as a Government, that we are a Government that takes that health of democracy very, very seriously indeed.

You made reference also, I think, to what are the significant concerns about the impact that the voter ID issue might have, and, of course, there have been a number of reports and representations, particularly by the Electoral Reform Society, who've expressed very serious concerns about the impact it would have on minorities and have highlighted the point that it has no evidential base.

So, we're also looking at how we might actually improve the mechanics of the elections, the simplification of the forms, the postal ballot forms, online registration, and so on, to ensure that fewer mistakes are made when people vote and, when people do cast their ballot, that ballot has the opportunity of ensuring that it is actually accounted for. So, those things are being looked at as well, and I think, once the local government elections are out of the way, we will have learnt a lot more and that will hopefully contribute significantly to what would be a much broader and more radical reform of the electoral system.

Minister, it's always pleasing to hear Ministers talking about the importance of participating in elections, as I'm sure you agree with me that confidence and trust in any government starts with the vote, and engagement with the vote is the foundation, of course, of democracy. And despite May's Senedd elections being the highest electoral turnout that the Welsh Parliament has ever received, it was still just 46.6 per cent turnout, compared to 63.5 per cent in May's Holyrood elections in Scotland and 67.3 per cent in the UK general election in 2019. I'm sure, Minister, you'd share my concerns regarding the turnout for Senedd elections considering the importance and responsibility that our Parliament holds. So, with that in mind, Minister, what discussions are you having with counterparts in the UK Parliament and Scottish Parliament to understand why people turn out so much more for those elections than they do for elections here for the Senedd?

I thank the Member for the supplementary question, because it is a very important point, and I don't think there is any silver bullet with regard to turnouts. There clearly is an issue that many people feel disengaged from Government, from the law-making processes, or from the decisions that impact on their lives. I think that is why the work of the constitutional commission that we have set up, to be co-chaired by Professor Laura McAllister and Dr Rowan Williams, is actually so important, because it goes to the heart of our democracy. 

You also raised a point that really confirms my own view in terms of some of the measures being taken by UK Government that would actually create unnecessary obstacles to people participating and voting in elections. I have many discussions with my counterparts across the four nations and with the UK Government; they have unfortunately been predominantly related to the issues around the Elections Bill, and I think that is disappointing, because the Elections Bill could have been something that actually sought to address those issues in another way. In actual fact, I think it probably does the exact opposite. What I would hope is that the direction that we will take with the electoral reform legislation that we will bring will also seek to improve and to maximise participation, to avoid unnecessary obstacles, and to be based on the principles of inclusivity as well as robustness in the confidence of the electoral system.