Welsh Government proposes giving public powers to remove Senedd members for conduct breaches

The Senedd Cymru (Member Accountability and Elections) Bill would give two triggers that would lead to a member facing a recall poll.

These are where a member is convicted and sentenced to imprisonment, including suspended sentences, and where the Senedd agrees a recommendation from its Standards of Conduct Committee that a member should be subject to a recall poll as a result of serious misconduct.

There would be a statutory requirement for the Senedd to establish a such a committee, which could include independent lay members.

The Commissioner for Standards would also gain additional powers to investigate members’ conduct.

Welsh ministers would be given powers to make rules about how Senedd elections are run to prevent deliberate deception, with a duty on them to prohibit false statements in future conduct orders governing Senedd elections.

Counsel general and minister for delivery Julie James said: “This draft legislation sets out to build stronger foundations for Welsh democracy: To ensure that when members seriously breach those standards, voters have the power to hold them directly accountable.

“Based on the Standards Committee's recommendations, this is about strengthening democratic integrity and ensuring that serious misconduct has real consequences - because trust in our democracy depends on members being answerable to the people they serve.”

Ms James said the Bill is expected to be introduced to the Senedd this autumn.

Mark Smulian