Freedom Central » Dafydd Elis-Thomas

Presiding Officer calls for three votes on one day

Freedom Central — Mon, 12 Jul 2010 07:16:04 +0000

The Presiding Officer of the National Assembly for Wales has called for the referendum on more powers for the Welsh assembly to be held on the same day as two other polls, the BBC report.

Dafydd Elis-Thomas said he has no “constitutional objections” to it taking place on 5 May when the assembly elections and UK voting referendum are held. Cost is the “overriding issue”, he said.

Wales Home has the full text of Dafydd Elis-Thomas’ letter to the Secretary of State for Wales:

You kindly consulted me formally about the timing and question of the referendum under Part 4 of the Government of Wales Act 2006. I appreciated this formal recognition of the constitutional relationship we need to have and it is in that spirit that I write following the DPM’s statement to Parliament on July 5th.

Constitutionally, I have no objection to the proposed UK AV referendum and the NAW general election coinciding. I am strongly in favour of voter convenience, and rationalisation of expenditure on polling arrangements. I am also in favour of both the UK Parliament and NAW general elections coinciding in 2′015, especially as constituencies are to be decoupled in Wales as in Scotland.

There remains the issue of the timing of the Part 4 referendum. I see no constitutional case for postponing the NAW general election, neither in 2011 nor 2015. Fixed terms are fixed terms, and only a national emergency of foot and mouth proportions could justify postponement in my view. A monthly series of polling events is hardly conducive to voter participation, a key issue in my opinion, as you know.

We also have to have regard in exercising constitutional principles to the socio-economic realities, and treat the electorate with the respect they deserve as active citizens. These reasons drive me to argue strongly for not incurring additional expenditure on polling during the next four years. Government whether UK or Welsh should practice what they preach in these times. The DPM in his statement estimated a saving of £ 17m throughout the UK by holding a referendum on a devolved general election day.

Holding a NAW referendum also on the same day would be a further saving, and preferable to holding a campaign and a poll in late winter to early spring 2011 .

However if it is argued that the additional expense of a separate referendum polling day is regarded as value for money then it should surely be held on a date conducive to stimulating voter participation, the regular windows of polling dates in late spring and early autumn. The DPM’s statement also alluded to the length and form of a referendum question. You will know my views on this already and I was pleased to see the DPM state that a question should be simple and direct and inviting a direct answer. I would hope that this reflects UK Government policy and that we can expect a consistent approach in all referendum questions. This matter was also very clearly addressed in the House of Lords’ Constitution Committee report on referendum-related issues last April, a report which has much influenced my thinking in these matters.

As the decisions on all polling arrangements rest with you I hope you can take all these and other arguments into account, but in particular that you are able to consult the most important stakeholders in all this, the electorate itself. How and when would the people of Wales prefer to exercise their democratic rights has been little discussed. Assumptions have been made without consulltation or evidence of opinion. Many of those assumptions are questionable and some are downright patronising of the intelligence of the electorate, never a sensible approach in democratic issues.

As an organisation NAW and the Assembly Commission have spent much resources and time on voter engagement. Our studies of public attitudes towards devolution have been shared with you. Our information and communication on 2011 as a polling year is now available, with its key message of voter encouragement. I would very much regret if UK Government by its actions were to send out a totally contradictory message, which could have a seriously detrimental effect on participation in all the coming polls.

Cofion cywir,

Y Gwir Anrh yr Arglwydd Elis-Thomas AC, Uywydd
The Rt Hon the Lord Elis-Thomas AM, Presiding Officer

For Wales read England

Peter Black — Sat, 05 Jun 2010 09:00:50 +0000

Anybody who spends any time at the Hay Literary Festival will appreciate the confusion faced by visitors who think that they are in fact still in England. That is not because the town itself exudes Englishness, it has a distinct Welsh identity in my view, but because for more than a week we are surrounded by the English intelligentsia, none of whom appear to have a clue about devolution or Welshness.

That is reflected in all the coverage, even by the now politically-correct BBC, even though the festival organisers themselves do make an attempt to deal with the issue in the range and diversity of the events they put on. Not surprisingly one of the worse offenders is the Guardian itself, who recently published an article by Homa Khaleeli that suggested that the festival was being taken over by politicians, as if this invasion was unusual and game-changing.

This article has been taken to task in today’s paper by the Director of the Open University in Wales and former Welsh Liberal Democrat Party President, Rob Humphreys. He writes:

Homa Khaleeli’s piece of politician-watching at the Hay festival (Invasion of the politicians!, G2, 1 June), with its listing of some welcome visitors, was woefully (and typically for the Guardian) London-centric. Prominent elected representatives of Wales – where Hay-on-Wye is situated – are frequent attendees and speakers. This year the list of speakers and panellists includes the Welsh environment minister, Jane Davidson, the Welsh heritage minister, Alun Ffred Jones (members, respectively, of Labour and Plaid Cymru – the two parts of the governing coalition), and Kirsty Williams, the leader of the Welsh Liberal Democrats.

A better-informed glance around the festival site on the first weekend would also have revealed Nick Bourne, the Welsh Conservative group leader in the Welsh assembly, the local MP, Roger Williams, and prominent Labour AM Andrew Davies, to name but three. The former first minister of Wales, Rhodri Morgan, and the presiding officer of the assembly, Dafydd Elis Thomas, have been distinguished speakers in previous years at Hay. The director of the festival, Peter Florence, has brilliantly described Hay as a “free port” of ideas. It is, nonetheless, in and of Wales. Thus politicians of Wales do not have to “invade” the festival – for better or worse they play their natural part in sharing, transmitting and receiving ideas within Wales and, significantly, across a wider international stage.

Of course it is not just journalists who get it wrong. Last week I sat through an enthralling interview in which Rosie Boycott talked to the historian Niall Ferguson. Mr. Ferguson spoke authoratively and passionately about the ‘national curriculum’ and its treatment of history as if it applied to the whole of the UK, rather than just England. He spoke, and the interviewer did not correct him, as if he were in the heart of England and that all of us, Welsh, Scots and Irish included were blighted by the decisions of previous English Education Ministers in the same way.

Then, as if to rub it in Rosie Boycott pointed out that the new Secretary of State for Education, Michael Gove, was in the audience and invited him to contribute. He spoke as if he were responsible for the education of all of us and never once acknowledged the fact that he is not, in fact, the Minister responsible for the National Curriculum in the area in which he sat, but just England. Nor did he show any awareness of the devolution settlement. It is at times like these that one regrets rushing off to another event leaving no time to correct matters.

To be fair to the BBC, they have fully educated most of their correspondents and news readers as to the subtleties and nuances of the devolution settlement. I think it would be useful if the same course could be laid on for journalists on London-based newspapers and also for those presenting at Hay on relevant matters.

On vetos

Peter Black — Wed, 06 May 2009 13:27:00 +0000

As we commemorate the tenth anniversay of the first elections to the Welsh Assembly talk has already turned to the future. This morning’s Western Mail has highlighted an article in tomorrow’s paper in which they say the Presiding Officer will call for a referendum to be held on utilising all the powers in the 2006 Government ofWales Act on the same day as the 2011 Assembly elections.

To do so in my opinion would be a great mistake. Not only is such a proposal likely to incur the wrath of the Electoral Commission but it would result in a fractured and ineffective campaign that could well see the proposition defeated.

It would be an impossible situation to see the leaders of the four major parties sharing a platform one minute to call for a yes vote only for the next event to see them ripping bits out of each other as part of an Assembly election campaign. The chances of a cross-party campaign would be zero and the very compelling case for a ‘yes’ vote would not be made.

Politics Cymru draw attention to another post by BBC Welsh Affairs Editor, Vaughan Roderick in which he poses the question to a future Tory Government as to whether they will cooperate with a request for a referendum and says that it will be a test of Nick Bourne’s leadership of the Assembly Tory group as to whether he can get into the Conservative manifesto a specific and definite promise from Cameron that the Secretary of State would not reject demands for a referendum:

‘According to one forthright Conservative failure to do so would be disastrous and would allow the other parties to paint the Tories as an anti-Wales party: “if Nick Bourne loses the battle or refuses to fight it, then all the work he has done over the last decade will have been undone.”

Time for answers from the Tories I think.

Presiding Officer considers his position

Freedom Central — Sun, 15 Mar 2009 20:46:00 +0000

The decision by the Welsh Liberal Democrats to challenge the provision in the Housing Legislative Competence Order that gives a veto to the Secretary of State for Wales on whether the Assembly can draw down powers to abolish the right to buy continues to attract support.

Welsh Liberal Democrats are concerned that the veto provision is unconstitutional and will set a precedent for other more controversial measures. Their view is supported by the Joint Committee on Statutory Instruments who concluded last week that ‘there is a doubt’ as to whether the clause in the LCO is ‘intra vires’.

On the Politics Show today the Presiding Officer of the National Assembly for Wales, Dafydd Elis-Thomas, echoed those doubts. His views can be heard about 32 minutes 30 seconds in on the BBC i-player, but essentially he said that he was seriously considering whether to make himself available so as to vote with the Welsh Liberal Democrats against the Government in the House of Lords on this matter.

Lord Elis-Thomas also said that some senior Lords shared his concerns including former judge and past Labour Minister Lord Elystan Morgan. The possibility of an alliance across parties and the cross benches of peers determined to maintain the integrity of the devolution process now poses a very real threat to the future of this defective LCO.