Welsh parliament committees ‘cannot function if one MP goes to the lavatory’

Eluned Morgan
Eluned Morgan says the Senedd was ‘literally getting to the point where we couldn’t run committees if somebody went to the toilet’ - Matthew Horwood/Welsh Government

There are so few Welsh members of the Senedd that committee meetings become void if one member leaves for the lavatory.

Eluned Morgan, the First Minister, made the claim as she defended plans to increase the number of Senedd members from 60 to 96, saying they would bring “better scrutiny”.

The Labour politician succeeded Vaughan Gething as the leader of the devolved Welsh assembly last month.

“The public are clearly anxious when they see more politicians, but there is good evidence that if you have better scrutiny you can hold people to account better and the resources are better allocated,” said Ms Morgan.

“We were literally getting to the point where we couldn’t run committees. If somebody went to the toilet then the committee was inquorate. You cannot run a parliament in that way.”

The Welsh Conservatives have criticised the plan to increase the number of members, saying the £17.8 million annual cost should be spent on the NHS instead.

The assembly is introducing a new proportional representation electoral system, where voters will back political parties rather than individual politicians.

‘We have got to have a reset’

In an interview with the BBC’s Newscast podcast, Ms Morgan said she took the “challenge” of Reform UK, which is poised to win seats in the Senedd for the first time under the new system, “very seriously”.

Nigel Farage’s party came second in 13 of the 32 Welsh parliamentary seats at July’s general election, winning 16.9 per cent of the vote.

Ms Morgan went on to say that 20mph speed limits have created problems in Wales since they were first introduced by Mark Drakeford, her predecessor, in September last year.

She also admitted that there are fewer “grumblings” in areas that councils exempted from the policy, which makes the default speed limit in built-up areas 20mph instead of 30mph.

“If you impose too much without laying the ground out then obviously that’s going to create a problem,” said Ms Morgan. “And it created a problem, we have got to acknowledge that.”

She added: “We have got to have a reset, we have got to have that revision and, you know, literally hundreds of people have written into their local council saying: ‘How about changing this road back?’. So we’ll see where those councils come up with those exemptions. We’re revising the guidelines.

“There were opportunities for councils to make exemptions and some councils took that opportunity and put loads of exemptions in place. And in those areas, the grumblings are not so great. Other councils are saying: ‘Ok, we’ll have a look at those exemptions again.’”