3. Statement by the Counsel General and Minister for the Constitution: Publication of the Electoral Administration and Reform White Paper

Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 3:09 pm on 11 October 2022.

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Photo of Darren Millar Darren Millar Conservative 3:09, 11 October 2022

Yes. The final point, if I may raise it, if that's okay, Deputy Presiding Officer, is that I want to know how you're going to uphold this principle of simplicity around elections when you're actually introducing more complexity into the election system, because the more that we diverge in Wales from the voting system that is used for police and crime commissioner elections and for UK general elections, then the more complexity that that is going to bring to people to have to navigate, to try to understand when they are going out to vote. So, if we've got automatic registration, for example, for some elections and not others, people might assume that they're already registered to vote in the general election but might not be, and I think that that sort of complexity is very unwelcome. And that's why I would encourage you to work more closely with the UK Government in order that we can try, if we're going to take forward any reforms, that we can try and do so consistently for all elections, to make sure that that complexity isn't there.