Three UK government ministers from Wales, and elected by voters in Wales, are making decisions on subject areas long devolved. Plaid Cymru says that the presence of the three 'unaccountables' in the UK government is wrong for England and wrong for the MPs' Welsh constituents.

Since the formation of the Welsh Assembly in 1999 many decisions regarding policy areas such as health, education and rural affairs in Wales have been made by Ministers of the Welsh Assembly Government. Any decisions on these areas made in Westminster affect England only. Yet three Welsh Labour MPs have ministerial roles in the Westminster cabinet and regularly make policy decisions that affect English constituents only. Plaid Cymru Assembly Member (AM) and Education spokesperson Nerys Evans has labelled this unaccountable, undemocratic and unfair.

The Plaid AM for Mid and West Wales was referring to Welsh Labour MPs Kevin Brennan, Huw Irranca-Davies and Ian Lucas who collectively have cabinet responsibility over education, rural affairs and skills all of which are areas that have been devolved to Wales, meaning that any decisions made on these in Westminster will affect only those living in England. Ms Evans argued that this is undemocratic as English voters have no way of holding these MPs to account and called for new roles which prevent MPs representing constituencies in devolved nations holding cabinet posts in devolved policy areas. She added that the current system is also unfair on the Welsh constituents to have an MP who is tied up in a ministerial role that has no benefit for them.

Plaid AM and Education spokesperson Nerys Evans said:

Nerys Evans“These MPs represent Welsh constituencies; you would therefore expect them to have ministerial responsibility over an area that affects their constituents. Clearly this is not the case. This is a disappointing failure of democracy - the voters in England who are affected by their decisions will have no recourse to voting them out if they are unhappy with any decisions made. If the expenses scandal has taught us anything it’s that voters must be able to hold politicians to account, and yet there is no way for voters in England who are affected by the decisions made by these ministers to hold them to account.

“Furthermore these Welsh Labour MPs are letting their own constituents down, devoting their time and efforts in Westminster to issues affecting only England, rather than standing up and fighting for the communities that they have been elected to represent.

“At a time when people have never felt so angry and let down by the same old politics in Westminster, this is another example of an out dated system that is yet to catch up with devolution. In order for people to regain trust in politicians and political institutions they need to be made accountable to the people they serve. The people of England have a right to expect that the people making the decisions which affect their lives are accountable to them, and constituents in Wales deserve MPs that concentrate on standing up for their communities.

“The current system needs to be updated as a matter of urgency. Any MP holding a cabinet position needs to be accountable to the people that their decisions affect. Anything less is undemocratic and the voting public deserves better."