As Dr Spock didn’t say: “It’s PR Dai, but not as we know it!” (Dave Bradney, Letters to the Editor, Cambrian News, 27 September) . My own [Conservative] party have been accused of gerrymandering for allowing the (independent) Boundary Commission to do its work 20 plus years late. But the stitch up that is the new “democracy” for the 2026 Senedd Election takes the biscuit.
What is clear is that the Senedd will not represent the overall share of the vote across Wales. The smaller parties will be heavily penalised. That includes the Lib Dems and Greens, who traditionally have been great supporters of PR; we haven’t heard a word from them on the subject which is surprising to say the least.
Both my party and Plaid are likely to be done down; I’ve got a feeling that Plaid Cymru may come to see that Mark Drakeford has put one over on Adam Price and “stitched him up like a kipper” as Del Boy would have said. That may just leave Plaid as a permanent lapdog to Welsh Labour, and how we end up with legislation like the 20mph law.
But my biggest objection is a system that excludes independent candidates; the fundamental right that we all have to put ourselves forward and ask our peers to vote for us, has effectively been taken away. So one of the foundation stones of our democratic settlement has been removed by two men in an office.
Dave Bradney is correct. There is a real danger here that democracy has been hijacked to create a one party state. That is never good. We need a lot more scrutiny and debate on this one. If we are going to have PR, let’s at least do it properly and fairly.
And let’s hear from the Lib Dems and the Greens. We want to know what you think on this.