Plans for a gender-balanced Senedd are scrapped

Plans that would have meant political parties would have had to have at least 50% women candidates have been scrapped by the Welsh Government. The gender quota, which was part of a proposal to reform the Senedd, was initially set to be implemented for the 2026 Senedd election but was delayed until 2030.

A new voting system and an increase in members from 60 to 96 members will still go ahead. According to BBC News Wales Welsh ministers have said that they will remain committed to a gender-balanced Parliament as well as getting more women into politics.

In a statement issued on Monday, September 16, the social justice secretary Jane Hutt MS said the Welsh Government would "focus its full energy in delivering tangible outcomes for the people of Wales". The Member of Senedd said that on Tuesday, September 17, "the First Minister will set out her policy and legislative priorities for the remainder of this Senedd term, indicating those areas where the Welsh Government will now focus its full energy in delivering tangible outcomes for the people of Wales".

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She added: "As a result, we are looking across the government at areas where we can implement our policy and legislative objectives in a more practical and timely way." According to BBC News Wales the Welsh Government has said that it will now "accelerate" new guidance to political parties on diversity and inclusion. For the latest Welsh news delivered to your inbox sign up to our newsletter.

The gender quota was introduced under former First Minister Mark Drakeford's leadership. In March the presiding officer Elin Jones said she did not believe the Senedd had powers to pass the bill. The Llywydd expressed concerns that there would be legal challenges to the bill which could have ended up in the Supreme Court. The Welsh Government however believed it was in their power. In a letter to the Senedd's legislation committee Ms Jones said that only a ruling by the Supreme Court could "put the matter beyond doubt".

The Senedd Cymru (Electoral Candidate Lists) Bill was the second part of the Welsh Government's proposals to reform the Senedd. The wider Senedd Cymru (Members and Election) Bill was introduced in September 2023, which includes increasing the size of the Senedd to 96 members. You can read more about this here.

For the second part of the bill however the Welsh Government intended to see gender quotas introduced, which would ensure at least 50% women. In November of last year however the plan was postponed with some political parties questioning whether the Welsh Government had the power to do such a thing.

According to BBC News Wales the members of Senedd will debate and vote on a motion to withdraw the bill from further consideration on Tuesday, September 24. In response to the news that the Welsh Government's gender quota bill for elections is set to be withdrawn Welsh Conservative shadow minister for the constitution Darren Millar MS said: "This decision was inevitable given the legal challenges that would have ensued if Labour had tried to force through these divisive election quotas.

"The Welsh Conservatives have always favoured candidate selection based on merit and by the voters. But if the Labour Welsh Government was serious about focusing on the people's priorities they would scrap their Senedd expansion plans altogether and end their obsession with creating more politicians as opposed to doctors and nurses in the Welsh NHS."

However one Plaid Cymru politician said they were "beyond disappointed" with the decision. On X, formerly known as Twitter, the party's Member of the Senedd for the Arfon constituency, Siân Gwenllian, said: "Beyond disappointed that Welsh Gov plans to put gender quotas bill in the bin. Another radical policy bites the dust. A detrimental step for Wales. Obviously Labour in Wales & Westminster have no political will for improving women's equality."

The move was criticised by some women's groups, describing it as a "step back for democracy" while another, which objected to the law in the first place, welcomed it being ditched. Cathy Larkman of the Women’s Rights Network in Wales said:

“We welcome the scrapping of this critically flawed Bill. It was abundantly clear from the very outset that the setting of mandatory ‘gender quotas’ for electoral lists would run into serious trouble and we explained the obvious problems when we gave evidence at the Stage 1 Reform Committee consideration of the Bill earlier this year. It would have saved Welsh public money and Senedd time if they had heeded warnings early on instead of ploughing on regardless."