1. Will the First Minister make a statement on the Welsh Government’s position on Senedd reform? OQ58152

Llywydd, the Welsh Government will seek to implement the conclusions of the Senedd on this matter.

Thank you for that response. Of course, the conclusions of the Senedd committee tie in very well with the conclusions of the discussions between you and the leader of Plaid Cymru. And, of course, if those conclusions and recommendations are implemented, it will be the most significant shake-up to elections to the Senedd since it was founded back in 1999, scrapping the current system whereby 40 Members are elected on a first-past-the-post basis. Now, when such significant changes to voting systems have been presented in the past, they have been put to the public vote, for the public to have a say via a referendum. Back in 2011, when there was a proposal to scrap the first-past-the-post system for Westminster elections, quite rightly, the UK Prime Minister, David Cameron, put that decision into the hands of the public via a referendum. Given that there was no specific mention of an increase in Members of the Senedd in your party's manifesto for the last Senedd election, do you accept that there is a need for the public to have a direct say on the package of proposals that is being put forward before this Senedd and will be debated tomorrow?

Llywydd, the public have already had their say. They elected Members to this Senedd in a sufficient number to bring about, as Darren Millar said, the greatest reform of the Senedd since its inception. Those of us who stood on manifestos in favour of reform look forward to taking this to a conclusion. 

I don't know what you were doing, First Minister, in 1973; I was in Dukestown Junior School in Tredegar. I'm not sure what Darren Millar was doing in 1973, but I'm sure he wasn't reading the report of Lord Kilbrandon, who reported at that time that Wales needed a Parliament of 100 members. Since then, we've had reports from Ivor Richard, from Laura McAllister, from everybody who's looked at these matters, and they've all come to the same conclusion. And yet, for most of, in fact all of Darren Millar's lifetime, the time has never been right. The reality is they stuff the House of Lords, as they have already today, with unelected peers. They put them straight in the UK Government without any democratic accountability, and they come here seeking a referendum, not because they believe it—and I don't believe any of them believe the nonsense they talk on these matters—but because they simply don't like Welsh democracy. Do you agree with me, First Minister?

Well, Llywydd, every nine months, the Prime Minister appoints more people to the House of Lords than we propose adding to the membership of the Senedd—every nine months. Where's the referendum on that, I wonder? 

Now, I agree entirely with what my colleague Alun Davies has said. You cannot find an independent report into the representation the people in Wales need in order to take the important decisions that are made here on their behalf that believes that 60 Members is a sufficient quantum to discharge those responsibilities. And that goes back to Kilbrandon and it goes back further than Kilbrandon, even to the 1950s and reports on what was then called the council for Wales. We have this opportunity; it doesn't come often. It's taken 20 years since the Richard review in order to find a moment where reform is possible. We must grasp it now, and those parties in this place who have an investment in making sure that Welsh democracy is able to deliver for people in Wales will, I think, gather round these proposals and want to see them succeed.