36 more Senedd Members at a cost of around £75 million over five years with NHS waiting times at an all time high with A&E patients waiting for up to 26 hours
Welsh Conservative comment on Senedd reform announcement
Labour and Plaid Cymru have announced their plans to increase the number of Senedd Members from 60 to 96.
Welsh Conservative leader, Andrew RT Davies MS, said:
“Wales does not need more politicians in Cardiff Bay – we need more teachers, doctors, dentists, and nurses.
“With residents across the country facing cost-of-living pressures, the last thing they need is to be footing the bill – expected to be more than £75 million over five years at least – for Labour and Plaid’s pet project.
“Ministers should be spending that money on tackling the big issues facing Wales, not wasting time and cash looking at upping the number of Senedd members.
“Now is the time to fix our broken NHS, get the economy fired up, and boost our education system, but sadly Labour and Plaid have got their priorities completely skewed.
“Whilst we have consistently objected to more politicians, we recognise Labour and Plaid have enough votes to push ahead and that’s why we have engaged constructively with the Senedd Reform Committee – but sadly it appears both parties have completely undermined the committee’s work with today’s announcement.”
Welsh Conservative Shadow Minister for the Constitution, Darren Millar MS, added:
“It is disappointing that the Welsh Government and Plaid Cymru have sought to thwart the work of the Welsh Parliament’s Senedd Reform Committee by issuing this statement today.
“While the Welsh Conservatives have always been clear that we oppose plans to increase the number of politicians in Wales, we have accepted that there is a mandate for change and, for that reason, we have played a constructive role in the work of the Senedd Reform Committee to date.
“Today’s statement suggests that the Labour and Plaid leaders want to strongarm the committee and dictate its conclusions rather than to allow the committee to complete its independent work.
“We joined this process in good faith, but it looks like that was misplaced.”
