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 3:29 pm on 11 October 2022.

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Photo of Mick Antoniw Mick Antoniw Labour 3:29, 11 October 2022

Can I thank you for those comments? I think this is a really exciting consultation, because it has shown that within Wales we can do something different, we can do it better and we can use the powers we have. I think the approach that we’ve had, and something that has been considered over a number of years since 2017, the way we can modernise and drag our voting system into the twenty-first century—. And let's face it, our voting system, essentially, has not changed very much in 100 years. It's still paper votes on lists, with pens and papers and rulers, where you draw lines through and so on, and clearly it's not beyond our wit to actually produce something a lot better, and I look forward to your ideas there. 

Can I just say something on your ideas and the comments you made in terms of local councils and STV? Well, of course, as a result of legislation passed in this place, local councils have the opportunity to choose to introduce STV in their voting systems if they choose to do so. They have to do it, I think, within the first two years, but that is a choice locally that they actually have. Diolch.