Closed lists were not our preferred option for reforming the Senedd’s electoral system. Wales needs a fair voting system that is proportional, representative and gives voters real choice.
As we work to strengthen our democracy, we will:
- Use the review mechanism in the Senedd Cymru (Members and Elections) Act to conduct a full review of Senedd electoral arrangements, examining the health of Welsh democracy. At the same time, we will identify legal pathways to deliver equal gender representation.
- Consider advice from the Innovating Democracy Advisory Group on how to give people in Wales a more active voice in decision-making at all levels of government.
- Work to build a cross-party majority for adopting the Single Transferable Vote (STV) for future Senedd elections, and examine options for innovations such as job-sharing for Senedd candidates, to further improve diversity of representation.
- Renew the process of electoral reform in local authorities, with the aim that STV is adopted for local government elections.
- Strengthen the teaching of political and media literacy in schools, so that every learner understands how democracy in Wales works, and has the critical skills to navigate mis- and disinformation.
We will strengthen integrity in politics and public life, and ensure that deliberate deception has consequences – including legislating to extend Hillsborough Law principles and the duty of candour where UK legislation does not fully cover devolved functions and Welsh public bodies.
We will defend devolution and resist attempts to undermine or weaken it, while securing more of the levers we need to build a fairer, more prosperous Wales.
We know that the way the UK is currently structured and governed is unsustainable. Change is both necessary and likely, and a responsible government must prepare for it. Our nation is on a journey to independence, and we will work in partnership with the people of Wales to set out what the next steps on that journey can look like.
We will establish a new National Commission for Wales, responsible for:
- Bringing forward and overseeing processes for devolving the Crown Estate, rail services and infrastructure, and justice and policing – all as recommended by the Independent Commission on the Constitutional Future of Wales.
- Engaging citizens in an ongoing national conversation about the options for Wales’s constitutional future – building on the best practice established by the Constitutional Commission in connecting constitutional change to the issues that people care about and affect them in their daily lives.
- Researching key political and economic questions relevant to Wales’s constitutional future, to inform debate and decision-making.
- Laying the foundations for a future White Paper on Welsh independence – addressing the challenges and setting out the opportunities and positive changes independence would bring for Wales.
We fundamentally believe that the decision on Wales’s political and constitutional future belongs to the people of Wales.
We will therefore formally request that the right to decide on the timeline, question and process for an independence referendum be devolved.