Electoral Reform Society's contribution on local government election.

It is hardly surprising that the Wales Online begin their coverage of the  Electoral Reform Society Cymru (ERS) latest contribution reports that Assembly Members should not be allowed to be councillors at the same time, an influential group has argued in a submission to the Welsh Government because it provides controversial headlines.

Responding to a public consultation in advance of a Bill, the Electoral Reform Society Cymru (ERS) said:

“Given the constraints of the current size of the Assembly, we believe that AMs are currently significantly overstretched.
“As a result of this we would agree that the ability to serve as both an AM and a councillor should be ended.”

Wales Onlne helpfully point out

Currently South Wales Central AM Neil McEvoy also sits as a member of Cardiff council.

He is currently suspended from the Plaid Assembly group after criticising Plaid’s support for a move to end the right of council tenants to buy their homes.
"However, he remains leader of the three-strong Cardiff council Plaid group. Other AMs who have previously done the job while remaining councillors include Plaid’s Lindsay Whittle and Lib Dem Peter Black.

Though it would be handy to note that Mr McEvoy  does not have any travel issues with his dual-mandate as both the Cardif council HQ and Assembly Buildings are in Cardiff bay.

In all his tenure as an AM for South Wales West Peter Black  (1999- 2016) was A Councillor for the Cwmbwrla ward on City and County of Swansea Council, being first elected in 1984 and remains so even i a period when the Lib DEms were decimated on the council.

I imagine opposition parties questioned his dual mandate  at every election but the electorate were sill happy to vote for him.

On the whole however I agree with the ERS and elected members should no have a dual membership though I wonder if is should left t the voters.

This was not the most important part of the ER contribution and I am in complete agreement however  with the   ERS backing the introduction of the Single Transferable Vote system of proportional representation for electing councillors, saying it is fairer than the current First Past The Post (FPTP) system.
The society said it did not support a proposal under which it would be up to councils to choose their own voting system,

The submission said: 

“Currently FPTP makes for unfair results and strongly monocultural councils. Under the current system, those who finish third in terms of share of the vote can go on to win the most seats.
“The starkest example from 2008 was Cardiff, where the Liberal Democrats came first in terms of seats but third in terms of votes.
“June’s general election showed further problems with the current voting system used at both general and local elections in Wales, with a quarter of voters being forced to vote tactically as FPTP failed to make their vote matter.”

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Explaining its opposition to letting councils choose their voting system, the society said:

 “A patchwork of voting systems at local elections level would likely cause confusion, and make educating the public on the system in their area more complex. This is exacerbated by the fact we currently have different voting systems at different elections in Wales already.
“It is undesirable to have different voting systems in a patchwork across 22 councils in Wales. They would provide inconsistency in governance, make for confusion for voters and parties, and would often place the powers over scrutiny with those who have an interest in maintaining the status quo.”

Backing the proposal to reduce the voting age to 16, ERS said:

 “Evidence from the Scottish independence referendum, substantiated by research from Austria and Norway, shows that, aided by the encouragement of families and schools, 16 and 17 year-olds have higher rates of turnout than 18 to 24 year-olds.

 I hope our AMs take the ERS proposals seriously and adopt them. 
But Turkeys don't vote for Christmas and Welsh Labour in particular are unlikely to surrender a large part of their hegemony.

Indeed they may lo at Scotland where STV has been used  in local authority elections since  2007 which arguably broke much of their hegemony and blame that for them being replaced by the SNP as Scotlands largest party.