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The Senedd ( ; ), officially known as the Welsh Parliament in English and () in Welsh, is the
devolved Devolution is the statutory delegation of powers from the central government of a sovereign state to govern at a subnational level, such as a regional or local level. It is a form of administrative decentralization. Devolved territories ...
,
unicameral Unicameralism (from ''uni''- "one" + Latin ''camera'' "chamber") is a type of legislature consisting of one house or assembly that legislates and votes as one. Unicameralism has become an increasingly common type of legislature, making up nearly ...
legislature A legislature (, ) is a deliberative assembly with the legal authority to make laws for a political entity such as a country, nation or city on behalf of the people therein. They are often contrasted with the executive and judicial power ...
of
Wales Wales ( ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by the Irish Sea to the north and west, England to the England–Wales border, east, the Bristol Channel to the south, and the Celtic ...
. A democratically elected body, Its role is to scrutinise the Welsh Government and legislate on devolved matters that are not reserved to the
Parliament of the United Kingdom The Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is the supreme legislative body of the United Kingdom, and may also legislate for the Crown Dependencies and the British Overseas Territories. It meets at the Palace ...
. It is a bilingual institution, with both Welsh and English being the official languages of its business. From its creation in May 1999 until May 2020, the Senedd was officially known as the National Assembly for Wales () and was often simply called the Welsh Assembly. The Senedd comprises 60 members who are known as
members of the Senedd A member of the Senedd (MS; plural: ''MSs''; ; , plural: ) is a representative elected to the Senedd (Welsh Parliament; ). There are sixty members, with forty members chosen to represent individual Senedd constituencies, and twenty to represe ...
(), abbreviated as "MS" (). Since 2011, members are elected for a five-year
term of office A term of office, electoral term, or parliamentary term is the length of time a person serves in a particular elected office. In many jurisdictions there is a defined limit on how long terms of office may be before the officeholder must be subjec ...
under an
Additional-member system The additional-member system (AMS) is a two-vote seat-linkage-based mixed electoral system used in the United Kingdom in which most representatives are elected in single-member districts (SMDs), and a fixed number of other "additional members" ...
, in which 40 MSs represent smaller geographical divisions known as "constituencies" and are elected by
first-past-the-post voting First-past-the-post (FPTP)—also called choose-one, first-preference plurality (FPP), or simply plurality—is a single-winner voting rule. Voters mark one candidate as their favorite, or first-preference, and the candidate with more first- ...
, and 20 MSs represent five "electoral regions" using the
D'Hondt method The D'Hondt method, also called the Jefferson method or the greatest divisors method, is an apportionment method for allocating seats in parliaments among federal states, or in proportional representation among political parties. It belongs to ...
of
proportional representation Proportional representation (PR) refers to any electoral system under which subgroups of an electorate are reflected proportionately in the elected body. The concept applies mainly to political divisions (Political party, political parties) amon ...
. Typically, the largest party in the Senedd forms the Welsh Government. A National Assembly for Wales was created by the
Government of Wales Act 1998 A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a state. In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive, and judiciary. Government is a ...
, following the result of the 1997 referendum. The Assembly initially had no powers to make
primary legislation Primary legislation and secondary legislation (the latter also called delegated legislation or subordinate legislation) are two forms of law, created respectively by the legislative and executive branches of governments in representative democ ...
. Limited law-making powers were gained through the
Government of Wales Act 2006 The Government of Wales Act 2006 (c. 32) is an act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that reformed the then-National Assembly for Wales (now the Senedd) and allows further powers to be granted to it more easily. The Act creates a system ...
. Its primary law-making powers were enhanced following a Yes vote in the referendum on 3 March 2011, meaning that the
UK Parliament The Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is the supreme legislative body of the United Kingdom, and may also legislate for the Crown Dependencies and the British Overseas Territories. It meets at the Palace of ...
or the
Secretary of State for Wales The secretary of state for Wales (), also referred to as the Welsh secretary, is a secretary of state in the Government of the United Kingdom, with responsibility for the Wales Office. The incumbent is a member of the Cabinet of the United Ki ...
were no longer consulted when passing
acts of the National Assembly for Wales An Act of Senedd Cymru (), or informally an Act of the Senedd (), is primary legislation that can be made by the Senedd (Welsh Parliament; ) under part 4 of the Government of Wales Act 2006 (as amended by the Wales Act 2017). Prior to 6 May ...
related to the 20 devolved areas. These powers were further extended by the
Wales Act 2014 The Wales Act 2014legislation.gov.uk
Wales Act 2014
(c. 29) is an Wales Act 2017 The Wales Act 2017 (c. 7) is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It sets out amendments to the Government of Wales Act 2006 and devolves further powers to Wales. The legislation is based on the proposals of the St David's Day Comma ...
, with the latter moving the Assembly to a reserved powers model of devolution like that of the Scottish Parliament. In May 2020, the Assembly was renamed to "Senedd Cymru" or "the Welsh Parliament" when section 2 of the
Senedd and Elections (Wales) Act 2020 The Senedd and Elections (Wales) Act 2020 (anaw 1) () is an Act of the National Assembly for Wales that was given royal assent Royal assent is the method by which a monarch formally approves an act of the legislature, either directly or t ...
came into force. The Senedd's powers in economic matters are significantly restricted by the UK Internal Market Act 2020, a primary purpose of which is to constrain the capacity of the devolved institutions to use their regulatory autonomy. Matters devolved to the Senedd include health, education, economic development, transport, the environment, agriculture, local government and some taxes.


History


Road to devolution

Political movements supporting Welsh self-rule began in the late nineteenth century alongside a rise in
Welsh nationalism Welsh nationalism () emphasises and celebrates the distinctiveness of Welsh culture and Wales as a nation or country. Welsh nationalism may also include calls for further autonomy or self-determination, which includes Welsh devolution, meaning ...
. The Sunday Closing (Wales) Act 1881 was the first legislation to acknowledge that Wales had a separate politico-legal character from England. The late 19th century saw the formation of a number of national institutions; a national and annual cultural event, the
National Eisteddfod of Wales The National Eisteddfod of Wales ( Welsh: ') is the largest of several eisteddfodau that are held annually, mostly in Wales. Its eight days of competitions and performances are considered the largest music and poetry festival in Europe. Competito ...
in 1861, the
Football Association of Wales The Football Association of Wales (FAW; ) is the Governing bodies of sports in Wales, governing body of association football and futsal in Wales, and controls the Wales national football team, its Wales women's national football team, correspo ...
in 1876, the
Welsh Rugby Union The Welsh Rugby Union (WRU; ) is the governing body of rugby union in the country of Wales, recognised by the sport's international governing body, World Rugby. The WRU is responsible for the running of rugby in Wales, overseeing 320 member clu ...
in 1881 and the
University of Wales The University of Wales () is a confederal university based in Cardiff, Wales. Founded by royal charter in 1893 as a federal university with three constituent colleges – Aberystwyth, Bangor and Cardiff – the university was the first universit ...
in 1893. In 1896,
Education in Wales This article provides an overview of education in Wales from early childhood education, early childhood to university and adult education, adult skills. Largely state-funded and freely accessible at a primary school, primary and secondary school, ...
began to become distinct with the formation of the Central Welsh Board which inspected grammar schools in Wales and The
Welsh Intermediate Education Act 1889 The Welsh Intermediate Education Act 1889 (52 & 53 Vict. c. 40) was an Act of Parliament, Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It made various reforms with the intention of expanding access to secondary education in Wales. Background ...
was brought about to "make further provision for the intermediate and technical education of the inhabitants of Wales and the county of Monmouth.", making the board responsible for inspection of secondary schools. In 1907, the Welsh department of the
Board of Education A board of education, school committee or school board is the board of directors or board of trustees of a school, local school district or an equivalent institution. The elected council determines the educational policy in a small regional area, ...
was formed and in the same year, a Welsh Inspectorate was established for inspection of primary and secondary schools in Wales. The early 20th century also saw the continued formation of a number of Welsh national institutions; the
National Library of Wales The National Library of Wales (, ) in Aberystwyth is the national legal deposit library of Wales and is one of the Welsh Government sponsored bodies. It is the biggest library in Wales, holding over 6.5 million books and periodicals, and the l ...
in 1911, the
Welsh Guards The Welsh Guards (WLSH GDS; ), part of the Guards and Parachute Division, Guards Division, is one of the Foot guards, Foot Guards regiments of the British Army. It was founded in 1915 as a single-battalion regiment, during the World War I, First ...
in 1915 and the Welsh Board of Health in 1919. The
Church in Wales The Church in Wales () is an Anglican church in Wales, composed of six dioceses. The Archbishop of Wales does not have a fixed archiepiscopal see, but serves concurrently as one of the six diocesan bishops. The position is currently held b ...
came into existence in 1920 following the disestablishment of the
Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the State religion#State churches, established List of Christian denominations, Christian church in England and the Crown Dependencies. It is the mother church of the Anglicanism, Anglican Christian tradition, ...
via the
Welsh Church Act 1914 The Welsh Church Act 1914 (4 & 5 Geo. 5. c. 91) is an act of Parliament (UK), act of Parliament under which the Church of England was separated and disestablishment, disestablished in Wales and Monmouthshire (historic), Monmouthshire, leading to ...
. An appointed
Council for Wales and Monmouthshire The Council for Wales and Monmouthshire (), was an appointed advisory body announced in 1948 and established in 1949 by the UK government under Labour prime minister Clement Attlee, to advise the government on matters of Welsh interest. It w ...
was established in 1949 to "ensure the government is adequately informed of the impact of government activities on the general life of the people of Wales". The council had 27 members nominated by local authorities in Wales, the
University of Wales The University of Wales () is a confederal university based in Cardiff, Wales. Founded by royal charter in 1893 as a federal university with three constituent colleges – Aberystwyth, Bangor and Cardiff – the university was the first universit ...
, National Eisteddfod Council and the Welsh Tourist Board. A post of Minister of Welsh Affairs was created in 1951 and the post of
Secretary of State for Wales The secretary of state for Wales (), also referred to as the Welsh secretary, is a secretary of state in the Government of the United Kingdom, with responsibility for the Wales Office. The incumbent is a member of the Cabinet of the United Ki ...
and the
Welsh Office The Welsh Office () was a department in the Government of the United Kingdom with responsibilities for Wales. It was established in April 1965 to execute government policy in Wales, and was headed by the Secretary of State for Wales, a post wh ...
were established in 1964 leading to the abolition of the Council for Wales. The establishment of the Welsh Office effectively created the basis for the territorial governance of Wales. The Royal Commission on the Constitution (the Kilbrandon Commission) was set up in 1969 by
Harold Wilson James Harold Wilson, Baron Wilson of Rievaulx (11 March 1916 – 23 May 1995) was a British statesman and Labour Party (UK), Labour Party politician who twice served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, from 1964 to 1970 and again from 197 ...
's Labour Government to investigate the possibility of devolution for Scotland and Wales. Its recommendations formed the basis of the 1974
White paper A white paper is a report or guide that informs readers concisely about a complex issue and presents the issuing body's philosophy on the matter. It is meant to help readers understand an issue, solve a problem, or make a decision. Since the 199 ...
''Democracy and Devolution: proposals for Scotland and Wales'', which proposed the creation of a
Welsh Assembly The Senedd ( ; ), officially known as the Welsh Parliament in English and () in Welsh, is the devolved, unicameral legislature of Wales. A democratically elected body, Its role is to scrutinise the Welsh Government and legislate on devolve ...
. However, Welsh voters overwhelmingly rejected the proposals in a referendum held in 1979. Following the 1997 general election, the new Labour Government argued that an Assembly would be more democratically accountable than the
Welsh Office The Welsh Office () was a department in the Government of the United Kingdom with responsibilities for Wales. It was established in April 1965 to execute government policy in Wales, and was headed by the Secretary of State for Wales, a post wh ...
. For eleven years prior to 1997 Wales had been represented in the
Cabinet of the United Kingdom The Cabinet of the United Kingdom is the senior decision-making body of the Government of the United Kingdom. A committee of the Privy Council (United Kingdom), Privy Council, it is chaired by the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, Prime M ...
by a Secretary of State who did not represent a Welsh constituency at
Westminster Westminster is the main settlement of the City of Westminster in Central London, Central London, England. It extends from the River Thames to Oxford Street and has many famous landmarks, including the Palace of Westminster, Buckingham Palace, ...
. A referendum was held in Wales on 18 September 1997 in which voters approved the creation of the National Assembly for Wales with a total of 559,419 votes, or 50.3% of the vote. The following year the Government of Wales Act was passed by the
United Kingdom parliament The Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is the supreme legislative body of the United Kingdom, and may also legislate for the Crown Dependencies and the British Overseas Territories. It meets at the Palace of ...
, establishing the Assembly. On 1 July 1999 the powers of the Secretary of State for Wales were transferred to the Assembly and the Welsh Office ceased to exist. In July 2002, the
Welsh Government The Welsh Government ( ) is the Executive (government), executive arm of the Welsh devolution, devolved government of Wales. The government consists of Cabinet secretary, cabinet secretaries and Minister of State, ministers. It is led by the F ...
established an independent commission, with Lord Richard (former leader of the
House of Lords The House of Lords is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Like the lower house, the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminster in London, England. One of the oldest ext ...
) as chair, to review the powers and electoral arrangements of the National Assembly to ensure that it is able to operate in the best interests of the people of Wales.
The Richard Commission
'. Archived Richard Commission Website, includes copy of Commission report. Archived 10 April 2010.
The Richard Commission reported in March 2004. It recommended that the National Assembly should have powers to legislate in certain areas, whilst others would remain the preserve of Westminster. It also recommended changing the electoral system to the
single transferable vote The single transferable vote (STV) or proportional-ranked choice voting (P-RCV) is a multi-winner electoral system in which each voter casts a single vote in the form of a ranked ballot. Voters have the option to rank candidates, and their vot ...
(STV) which would produce greater proportionality. In response, the British government, in its ''Better Governance for Wales'' White Paper, published on 15 June 2005, proposed a more permissive law-making system for the Welsh Assembly based on the use of Parliamentary Orders in Council. In so doing, the Government rejected many of the cross party Richard Commission's recommendations. This has attracted criticism from opposition parties and others.


Enhanced powers: The Government of Wales Act 2006

The
Government of Wales Act 2006 The Government of Wales Act 2006 (c. 32) is an act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that reformed the then-National Assembly for Wales (now the Senedd) and allows further powers to be granted to it more easily. The Act creates a system ...
received
Royal assent Royal assent is the method by which a monarch formally approves an act of the legislature, either directly or through an official acting on the monarch's behalf. In some jurisdictions, royal assent is equivalent to promulgation, while in othe ...
on 25 July 2006. It conferred on the Assembly legislative powers similar to other
devolved Devolution is the statutory delegation of powers from the central government of a sovereign state to govern at a subnational level, such as a regional or local level. It is a form of administrative decentralization. Devolved territories ...
legislatures through the ability to pass Assembly Measures concerning matters that are devolved. Requests for further legislative powers made through legislative competence requests were subject to the veto of the
Secretary of State for Wales The secretary of state for Wales (), also referred to as the Welsh secretary, is a secretary of state in the Government of the United Kingdom, with responsibility for the Wales Office. The incumbent is a member of the Cabinet of the United Ki ...
,
House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the Bicameralism, bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of ...
or
House of Lords The House of Lords is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Like the lower house, the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminster in London, England. One of the oldest ext ...
. The Act reformed the assembly to a parliamentary-type structure, establishing the
Welsh Government The Welsh Government ( ) is the Executive (government), executive arm of the Welsh devolution, devolved government of Wales. The government consists of Cabinet secretary, cabinet secretaries and Minister of State, ministers. It is led by the F ...
as an entity separate from, but accountable to the National Assembly. It enables the Assembly to legislate within its devolved fields. The Act also reforms the Assembly's electoral system. It prevents individuals from standing as candidates in both constituency and regional seats. This aspect of the act was subject to a great deal of criticism, most notably from the
Electoral Commission An election commission is a body charged with overseeing the implementation of electioneering process of any country. The formal names of election commissions vary from jurisdiction to jurisdiction, and may be styled an electoral commission, a c ...
., although it was supported in the Richard Commission The Act was heavily criticised.
Plaid Cymru Plaid Cymru ( ; , ; officially Plaid Cymru – the Party of Wales, and often referred to simply as Plaid) is a centre-left, Welsh nationalist list of political parties in Wales, political party in Wales, committed to Welsh independence from th ...
, the Official Opposition in the National Assembly from 1999 to 2007, attacked it for not delivering a fully-fledged parliament. Many commentators have also criticised the Labour Party's allegedly partisan attempt to alter the electoral system. By preventing regional Members from standing in constituency seats the party has been accused of changing the rules to protect constituency representatives. Labour had 29 members in the Assembly at the time, all of whom held constituency seats. The changes to the Assembly's powers were commenced on 4 May 2007, after the
election An election is a formal group decision-making process whereby a population chooses an individual or multiple individuals to hold Public administration, public office. Elections have been the usual mechanism by which modern representative d ...
. Following a referendum on 3 March 2011, the Welsh Assembly gained direct law making powers, without the need to consult Westminster.


Reserved powers model: The Wales Act 2017

The Conservative-Liberal coalition government created the
Commission on Devolution in Wales In-Commission or commissioning may refer to: Business and contracting * Commission (remuneration), a form of payment to an agent for services rendered ** Commission (art), the purchase or the creation of a piece of art most often on behalf of anot ...
(also known as Silk Commission), composed of members nominated by the 4 parties represented in the Welsh Assembly and several leading legal and political experts, to "create a lasting devolution settlement for Wales". Following the first set of recommendations by the Commission, the UK government announced in November 2013 that some borrowing powers are to be devolved to the Assembly along with control of landfill tax and stamp duty. Additionally the
Wales Act 2014 The Wales Act 2014legislation.gov.uk
Wales Act 2014
(c. 29) is an income tax An income tax is a tax imposed on individuals or entities (taxpayers) in respect of the income or profits earned by them (commonly called taxable income). Income tax generally is computed as the product of a tax rate times the taxable income. Tax ...
, though there is a proposal for the requirement for a referendum to be removed. Both the UK and Welsh governments supported the Silk Commission (Part 2) proposal to move to a "
reserved powers Reserved powers, residual powers, or residuary powers are the powers that are neither prohibited to be exercised by an organ of government, nor given by law to any other organ of government. Such powers, as well as a general power of competence, ...
" model of devolution (similar to that of the
Scottish Parliament The Scottish Parliament ( ; ) is the Devolution in the United Kingdom, devolved, unicameral legislature of Scotland. It is located in the Holyrood, Edinburgh, Holyrood area of Edinburgh, and is frequently referred to by the metonym 'Holyrood'. ...
and the
Northern Ireland Assembly The Northern Ireland Assembly (; ), often referred to by the metonym ''Stormont'', is the devolved unicameral legislature of Northern Ireland. It has power to legislate in a wide range of areas that are not explicitly reserved to the Parliam ...
) where the UK government would have specific "reserved" powers and the Welsh Assembly would have control of all other matters. This replaced the previous model where certain powers were "conferred" and all others were assumed to be powers of the UK national government. Since the passing of the
Wales Act 2017 The Wales Act 2017 (c. 7) is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It sets out amendments to the Government of Wales Act 2006 and devolves further powers to Wales. The legislation is based on the proposals of the St David's Day Comma ...
, the power model in Wales has been in line with that of Scotland, being a reserved matter model. The
Wales Act 2017 The Wales Act 2017 (c. 7) is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It sets out amendments to the Government of Wales Act 2006 and devolves further powers to Wales. The legislation is based on the proposals of the St David's Day Comma ...
, based on the second set of recommendations of the Silk Commission, proposed devolving further areas of government, including some relating to water, marine affairs (ports, harbours, conservation), energy (subsidies, petroleum extraction, construction of smaller energy-generating facilities, etc.), rail franchising and road travel.


Name change

In July 2016, Assembly members unanimously agreed that the name of the Assembly should reflect its constitutional status as a national parliament. The
Assembly Commission The Senedd Commission () is the corporate body for the Senedd of Wales. The commission is responsible for ensuring the property, staff and services are provided for the Senedd. The commission consists of the Llywydd of the Senedd and four mem ...
ran a public consultation on the proposal, which showed that 61% of respondents agreed or strongly agreed that the Assembly should change its name. In 2018, the commission announced its intention to introduce legislation to change the name of the Assembly. Later that year, the – the Assembly's presiding officer – wrote to all Assembly Members explaining that the name change proposed in the Bill would be the monolingual name Senedd. In 2019, the Senedd and Elections (Wales) Bill, favouring the name Senedd, was introduced on behalf of the Assembly Commission. Following support of a subsequent amendment to the Bill which favoured a bilingual name for the institution, the Bill was passed by the Assembly on 27 November 2019 and was given Royal Assent on 15 January 2020. The Act changed the name of the Assembly to or the ''Welsh Parliament''. Its guidance states that the institution will be commonly known as the Senedd in both languages. The name change came into effect on 6 May 2020. Members of the renamed body are known as Members of the Senedd (MS), or (AS) in Welsh.


Constraints on powers: UK Internal Market Act 2020

As part of the process of leaving the European Union, the Conservative Party in power in Westminster passed the
United Kingdom Internal Market Act 2020 The United Kingdom Internal Market Act 2020 (c. 27) is an act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom passed in December 2020. Its purpose is to prevent internal trade barriers within the UK, and to restrict the legislative powers of the d ...
. This legislation aims to prevent internal trade barriers within the UK, and to restrict the exercise of legislative powers of the devolved administrations in economic areas. It has several effects on the constitutional arrangements regarding devolved legislative powers. Principal amongst these is the effect that the market access principles will have on the practical ability of the devolved administrations to regulate economic activity. It also expressly reserves the regulation of distortive or harmful subsidies to the UK Government, and gives them spending powers in numerous policymaking areas. These powers undermine the authority of the Senedd to determine infrastructure priorities within its jurisdiction. The principles undermine devolved competences in two ways. These relate to its status as a protected enactment, and to the disproportionate market size and power of the economy under English jurisdiction. Because the Senedd will be unable to disapply the market access principles, if they attempt to introduce new or stricter regulatory standards, they will only apply to goods produced within the devolved jurisdiction. This means that these standards will have little or no practical effect other than to disadvantage their own economy, severely restricting their ability to introduce regulatory divergence, or pursue different economic or social choices to those made in Westminster.


Expansion

On 22 November 2021, Welsh Labour and Plaid Cymru agreed a co-operation deal that will see the implementation of 46 policies that the two parties share. One of these is the expansion of the Senedd from 60 Members to between 80 and 100 Members. At its Conference on 12 March 2022, Welsh Labour unanimously approved increasing the size of the Senedd. "The expansion of the Senedd is essential because the journey of devolution is not yet complete", former First Minister
Alun Michael Alun Edward Michael (born 22 August 1943) is a Welsh Labour and Co-operative retired politician. He served as Secretary of State for Wales from 1998 to 1999 and then as the first First Secretary of Wales (later known as First Minister) and L ...
said. "There is more to come. And the capacity needs to be there for those backbenchers to do the job of holding to account that you rightly said, cannot be done by to smaller number of representatives." Two weeks later, Plaid members backed the expansion proposal as well. On 10 May 2022, plans to increase the number of MSs from 60 to 96 were unveiled, as well as the scrapping of
first past the post First-past-the-post (FPTP)—also called choose-one, first-preference plurality (FPP), or simply plurality—is a single-winner voting rule. Voters mark one candidate as their favorite, or First-preference votes, first-preference, and the cand ...
, which is currently used to elect 40 of the 60 Members of the Senedd (MSs). Drakeford said these changes were required as "report after report" had demonstrated that the Senedd in its current form "cannot do the job in the way that people in Wales have a right to expect it to be done". Welsh Lib Dem leader
Jane Dodds Jane Winifred Dodds (born 13 September 1963) is a Welsh politician who has served as Leader of the Welsh Liberal Democrats since 2017. She was elected as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Brecon and Radnorshire at the seat's 2019 by-election ...
criticised these plans, claiming that they would disproportionately impact smaller parties. On 8 June 2022, the Senedd voted 40–14 in favour of expanding the number of MSs. In 2023, the reform bill committee heard reforms included taking 32 new constituencies created that will be used in the
2024 general election This is a list of elections that were held in 2024. The National Democratic Institute also maintains a calendar of elections around the world. * 2024 United Nations Security Council election * 2024 national electoral calendar * 2024 local electo ...
and pairing them to create 16 Senedd constituencies – with each returning six members in
multi-member district An electoral (congressional, legislative, etc.) district, sometimes called a constituency, riding, or ward, is a geographical portion of a political unit, such as a country, state or province, city, or administrative region, created to provi ...
s. Opposition to the proposed
closed list Closed list describes the variant of party-list systems where voters can effectively vote for only political parties as a whole; thus they have no influence on the party-supplied order in which party candidates are elected. If voters had some in ...
voting system was expressed by some Labour and Plaid Cymru representatives, while opposition to the overall expansion of the Senedd was expressed by some Labour representatives and the Conservatives.


Buildings


Senedd building

The
debating chamber A debate chamber is a room for conducting the business of a deliberative assembly or otherwise for debating. When used as the meeting place of a legislature, a debate chamber may also be known as a council chamber, legislative chamber, assembly ...
in
Cardiff Bay Cardiff Bay (; colloquially "The Bay") is an area and freshwater lake in Cardiff, Wales. The site of a former tidal bay and estuary, it is the river mouth of the River Taff and River Ely, Ely. The body of water was converted into a lake as part ...
, the ''
Senedd The Senedd ( ; ), officially known as the Welsh Parliament in English and () in Welsh, is the devolved, unicameral legislature of Wales. A democratically elected body, Its role is to scrutinise the Welsh Government and legislate on devolve ...
'' (''Senate''), was designed by the
Richard Rogers Partnership RSHP is a British architectural firm, founded in 1977 and previously known as the Richard Rogers Partnership which became Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners in 2007. The firm rebranded from Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners to simply RSHP on 30 Jun ...
, and built by
Taylor Woodrow Taylor Woodrow was one of the largest housebuilding and general construction companies in Britain. It was listed on the London Stock Exchange and was a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index until its merger with rival housebuilder George Wimpey ...
, with environmental, mechanical, electrical and plumbing design by BDSP Partnership. It uses traditional Welsh materials, such as slate and Welsh oak, in its construction, and the design is based around the concepts of openness and transparency. The timber ceiling and centre funnel, manufactured and installed by BCL Timber Projects (sub-contracted by Taylor Woodrow) is made from Canadian sourced Western Red Cedar. The Senedd houses the debating chamber known as the Siambr () and Committee Rooms. It was officially opened by Queen
Elizabeth II Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary; 21 April 19268 September 2022) was Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms from 6 February 1952 until Death and state funeral of Elizabeth II, her death in 2022. ...
on
Saint David's Day Saint David's Day ( or ), or the Feast of Saint David, is the feast day of Saint David, the patron saint of Wales, and falls on 1 March, the date of Saint David's death in 589 AD. Traditional festivities include wearing daffodils and leeks, ...
, 1 March 2006.The New National Assembly for Wales Senedd opened on St David's Day
National Assembly for Wales, Public Information page. Retrieved 4 May 2006
The Senedd is designed to be environmentally friendly: it uses an Earth Heat Exchange system for heating; rainwater is collected from the roof and used for flushing toilets and cleaning windows, and the roof features a wind cowl which funnels natural light and air into the debating chamber below.


Telecasting

The building houses the debating chamber and committee rooms for the Senedd. When the Senedd building opened on 1 March 2006, there was regular screening of live proceedings from the Siambr on
S4C2 S4C Dau (, meaning ''Channel Four Wales Two'', formerly branded S4C2) was a free-to-air British television station owned by S4C which, until 2010, broadcast coverage of the Senedd at the Senedd building. It was also used for extended coverage o ...
and also on
internet television Streaming television is the digital distribution of television content, such as films and television show, television series, Streaming media, streamed over the Internet. Standing in contrast to dedicated terrestrial television delivered by Broadc ...
. Coverage of the S4C2 screenings were on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays between 9:00 am 6:00 pm when the Senedd was sitting. In addition, limited screens were shown on the
BBC Two Wales BBC Two Wales is a Welsh free-to-air television channel owned and operated by BBC Cymru Wales as a variation of the BBC Two network. It is broadcast from BBC Cymru Wales New Broadcasting House, Central Square in Cardiff with live continuity prov ...
programme ''"am.pm"'', including
First Minister A first minister is any of a variety of leaders of government cabinets. The term literally has the same meaning as "prime minister" but is typically chosen to distinguish the office-holder from a superior prime minister. Currently the title of ' ...
's Questions. These were decommissioned after S4C2 switched its scheduling to children programs and because of budget cuts. Internet television screenings are now shown on the Senedd's own website called Senedd.tv, which screens approximately 35 hours of content each week in English and Welsh. The service began 15 April 2008. Key events such as First Minister's Questions are shown live and recorded on
BBC Parliament BBC Parliament is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel from the BBC that showcases parliamentary content from across the United Kingdom. It broadcasts live and recorded coverage of the British Parliament (House of Commons o ...
on television and on
iPlayer BBC iPlayer (stylised as iPLAYER or BBC iPLAYER) is a video on demand service from the BBC. The service is available Over-the-top media service, over-the-top on a wide range of devices, including Mobile phone, mobile phones and Tablet computer ...
. Also on BBC Parliament some proceedings are shown as highlights of the week on the programme The Week in Parliament. In October 2023,
GB News GB News is a British free-to-air, editorial, opinion-orientated television and radio news channel. The channel is available on Freeview (UK), Freeview, Freesat, Sky UK, Sky, YouView, Virgin Media and via the internet on Samsung TV Plus, LG web ...
was banned from the Senedd's internal TV system, with a spokesperson for the presiding officer claiming the channel was "deliberately offensive, demeaning to public debate and contrary to our parliament's values".


Tŷ Hywel and Pierhead Building

Between 1999 and 2006, a temporary debating chamber was initially based in
Tŷ Hywel is a building in Cardiff, Wales, used by the Senedd (Welsh Parliament; ; formerly the National Assembly for Wales). It is named after the medieval king (''Howell the Good''), King of Deheubarth in South West Wales. The building was previousl ...
, next to the site of the present building. The offices of Members are still in this building which is connected to the Senedd by a
skyway A skyway, skybridge, skywalk, or sky walkway is an elevated type of pedway connecting two or more buildings in an urban area, or connecting elevated points within mountainous recreational zones. Urban skyways very often take the form of Cover ...
. Tŷ Hywel once again hosts plenary sessions of the Senedd between April 2025 and March 2026 whilst the debating chamber in the Senedd building undergoes refurbishment to increase its capacity in the lead up to the
next Senedd election The next Senedd election is due to be held by 7 May 2026 to elect 96 members to the Senedd (Welsh Parliament; ). It will be the seventh devolved general election since the Senedd (formerly the National Assembly for Wales) was established in 1 ...
where the number of members returned is to rise to 96. The
Senedd Commission The Senedd Commission () is the corporate body for the Senedd of Wales. The commission is responsible for ensuring the property, staff and services are provided for the Senedd. The commission consists of the Llywydd of the Senedd and four memb ...
is also responsible for the
Pierhead Building The Pierhead Building () is a Grade I listed building in Cardiff Bay, Wales. It was built in 1897 as the headquarters for the Bute Dock Company. The Pierhead Building is part of the estate of the Senedd (Welsh Parliament; ), which also includes ...
, which is the location of "The Assembly at the Pierhead" exhibition, and is the Visitor and Education Centre for the Senedd as well as housing a small gift shop. The exhibition provides visitors with information on who's who, what's happening and how the Senedd works.


North Wales Office

The Senedd North Wales Office is located at Government Buildings,
Llandudno Junction Llandudno Junction (), once known as Tremarl, is a town in the Community (Wales), community of Conwy in Conwy County Borough, Wales. Llandudno Junction and neighbouring Deganwy are both part of the built-up area and community of Conwy. It take ...
. The office is open to the public to access information about the Senedd on weekdays between 10:00 and 12:00 and 14:00 and 16:00. Previously the office was located at Prince's Park,
Colwyn Bay Colwyn Bay () is a town, Community (Wales), community and seaside resort in Conwy County Borough on the north coast of Wales overlooking the Irish Sea. It lies within the historic counties of Wales, historic county boundaries of Denbighshire (h ...
.


Officials


Elected officials

After each election, the Senedd elects one Member of the Senedd to serve as
Llywydd The (), or Presiding Officer in English, is the speaker of the Senedd in Wales, elected by members of the Senedd to chair their meetings (plenary sessions); to maintain order; and to protect the rights of Members. The also heads the Corpor ...
(Presiding Officer) of the Senedd, and another to serve as Deputy Presiding Officer (Dirprwy Llywydd).
Elin Jones Elin Jones (born 1 September 1966), is a Welsh politician who has served as the Llywydd of the Senedd since 2016. A member of Plaid Cymru, Jones has been the Member of the Senedd (MS) for Ceredigion since 1999. Background Jones atten ...
,
Plaid Cymru Plaid Cymru ( ; , ; officially Plaid Cymru – the Party of Wales, and often referred to simply as Plaid) is a centre-left, Welsh nationalist list of political parties in Wales, political party in Wales, committed to Welsh independence from th ...
MS, has been Llywydd since 2016, having taken over from
Rosemary Butler Rosemary Butler may refer to: * Rosemary Butler (politician) Dame Rosemary Janet Mair Butler (''née'' McGrath; born 21 January 1943) is a British politician who served as Presiding Officer of the National Assembly for Wales (now Llywydd of ...
. The Llywydd also acts as Chair of the
Senedd Commission The Senedd Commission () is the corporate body for the Senedd of Wales. The commission is responsible for ensuring the property, staff and services are provided for the Senedd. The commission consists of the Llywydd of the Senedd and four memb ...
. Both the Llywydd and the Deputy Presiding Officer (Dirprwy Lywydd) typically don't vote in simple-majority votes.


Permanent officials

The permanent administrative and support staff of the Senedd are employed by the Senedd Commission. They are not civil servants, although they enjoy similar terms and conditions of service to members of the
UK Civil Service In the United Kingdom, the Civil Service is the permanent bureaucracy or secretariat of Crown employees that supports His Majesty's Government, the Scottish Government and the Welsh Government, which is led by a cabinet of ministers chosen by ...
. The most senior permanent official is the chief executive and clerk, and the position is currently held by
Manon Antoniazzi Manon Bonner Antoniazzi (''née'' Jenkins, previously Williams; born 15 April 1965) is a Welsh senior civil servant. Since April 2017 she has occupied the position of Chief Executive and Clerk of the Senedd. Previously she held the position o ...
.


Powers and status

The Senedd consists of 60 elected members. They use the title
Member of the Senedd A member of the Senedd (MS; plural: ''MSs''; ; , plural: ) is a representative elected to the Senedd (Welsh Parliament; ). There are sixty members, with forty members chosen to represent individual Senedd constituency, Senedd constituencies, a ...
(MS) or ''Aelod o'r Senedd'' (AS). The executive arm of the Senedd, the
Welsh Government The Welsh Government ( ) is the Executive (government), executive arm of the Welsh devolution, devolved government of Wales. The government consists of Cabinet secretary, cabinet secretaries and Minister of State, ministers. It is led by the F ...
, has been a Labour administration since its inception in 1999. Currently it is led by First Minister,
Eluned Morgan, Baroness Morgan of Ely Mair Eluned Morgan, Baroness Morgan of Ely, (born 16 February 1967), is a Welsh politician who has served as First Minister of Wales and Leader of Welsh Labour since 2024. Morgan is the first woman, and first member of the House of Lords to ho ...
, since August 2024. The government between 2007 and 2011, had been a coalition between Labour, led by First Minister Carwyn Jones and
Plaid Cymru Plaid Cymru ( ; , ; officially Plaid Cymru – the Party of Wales, and often referred to simply as Plaid) is a centre-left, Welsh nationalist list of political parties in Wales, political party in Wales, committed to Welsh independence from th ...
, led by Deputy First Minister
Ieuan Wyn Jones Ieuan Wyn Jones (born 22 May 1949) is a Welsh politician who was the Deputy First Minister in the Welsh Government from 2007 to 2011. He was the Member of the National Assembly for Wales for the Ynys Môn constituency from 1999 to 2013, and ...
; and between 2016 and 2021, Labour had been in coalition with the Liberal Democrats and an independent member. Since 2021, the government has been a Labour minority government. The executive and civil servants are mainly based in Cardiff's
Cathays Park Cathays Park () or Cardiff Civic Centre is a civic centre area in the Cardiff City Centre, city centre of Cardiff, the capital city of Wales, consisting of a number of early 20th century buildings and a central park area, Alexandra Gardens. It ...
while the MSs, the Senedd Commission and Ministerial support staff are based in
Cardiff Bay Cardiff Bay (; colloquially "The Bay") is an area and freshwater lake in Cardiff, Wales. The site of a former tidal bay and estuary, it is the river mouth of the River Taff and River Ely, Ely. The body of water was converted into a lake as part ...
, where a new £67 million building, the
Senedd The Senedd ( ; ), officially known as the Welsh Parliament in English and () in Welsh, is the devolved, unicameral legislature of Wales. A democratically elected body, Its role is to scrutinise the Welsh Government and legislate on devolve ...
, has been built. One important feature of the National Assembly until 2007 was that there was no legal or constitutional separation of the legislative and executive functions, since it was a single corporate entity. Compared with other
parliamentary system A parliamentary system, or parliamentary democracy, is a form of government where the head of government (chief executive) derives their Election, democratic legitimacy from their ability to command the support ("confidence") of a majority of t ...
s, and arrangements for devolution in other countries of the UK, this was unusual. In practice, however, there was separation of functions, and the terms "Assembly" and "Assembly Parliamentary Service" came into use to distinguish between the two arms. The Government of Wales Act 2006 regularised the separation when it came into effect following the 2007 Assembly Election. Initially, the Assembly did not have primary legislative or fiscal powers, as these powers were reserved by
Westminster Westminster is the main settlement of the City of Westminster in Central London, Central London, England. It extends from the River Thames to Oxford Street and has many famous landmarks, including the Palace of Westminster, Buckingham Palace, ...
. The Assembly did have powers to pass
secondary legislation Secondary may refer to: Science and nature * Secondary emission, of particles ** Secondary electrons, electrons generated as ionization products * The secondary winding, or the electrical or electronic circuit connected to the secondary winding ...
in devolved areas. Sometimes secondary legislation could be used to amend
primary legislation Primary legislation and secondary legislation (the latter also called delegated legislation or subordinate legislation) are two forms of law, created respectively by the legislative and executive branches of governments in representative democ ...
, but the scope of this was very limited. For example, the first Government of Wales Act gave the Assembly power to amend primary legislation relating to the merger of certain public bodies. However, most secondary powers were conferred on the executive by primary legislation to give the executive (i.e. Ministers) more powers, and the Assembly had wider legislative powers than appearances might suggest. For example, the Assembly delayed local elections due to be held in 2003 for a year by use of secondary powers, so that they would not clash with Assembly elections. In 2001 the UK parliament used primary legislation to delay for one month local elections in England during the
Foot-and-mouth disease Foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) or hoof-and-mouth disease (HMD) is an infectious disease, infectious and sometimes fatal virus (biology), viral disease that primarily affects even-toed ungulates, including domestic and wild Bovidae, bovids. The vir ...
epidemic. The Assembly gained limited primary legislative powers following the 2007 election and the passage of the
Government of Wales Act 2006 The Government of Wales Act 2006 (c. 32) is an act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that reformed the then-National Assembly for Wales (now the Senedd) and allows further powers to be granted to it more easily. The Act creates a system ...
. These laws are known as Assembly Measures and can be enacted in specific fields and matters within the legislative competency of the Assembly. New matters and fields can be devolved by Acts of the UK Parliament or by
LCOs Liquid crystal on silicon (LCoS or LCOS) is a miniaturized reflective active-matrix liquid-crystal display or "microdisplay" using a liquid crystal layer on top of a silicon backplane. It is also known as a spatial light modulator. LCoS initia ...
approved by Parliament. Until 2015 the Assembly had no tax-varying powers, however it could influence the rate of Council Tax set by
local authorities Local government is a generic term for the lowest tiers of governance or public administration within a particular sovereign state. Local governments typically constitute a subdivision of a higher-level political or administrative unit, such a ...
, which are part-funded by a grant from the Welsh government. It also has some discretion over charges for government services. Notable examples in which this discretion has been used to create significant differences from other areas in the UK are: # ''Charges for NHS prescriptions in Wales'' – these have now been abolished. # ''Charges for University Tuition'' – are different for Welsh resident students studying at Welsh Universities, compared with students from or studying elsewhere in the UK. # ''Charging for Residential Care'' – In Wales there is a flat rate of contribution towards the cost of nursing care (roughly comparable to the highest level of English Contribution) for those who require residential care. This means in reality that there is a wider definition of "nursing care" than in England and therefore less dependence on means testing in Wales than in England, so that more people are entitled to higher levels of state assistance. These variations in the levels of charges may be viewed as ''de facto'' tax varying powers. This model of more limited legislative powers created in 1999 was partly because Wales has had the same legal system as England since 1536 (though a different court system until 1830), when it was
merged Mergers and acquisitions (M&A) are business transactions in which the ownership of a company, business organization, or one of their operating units is transferred to or consolidated with another entity. They may happen through direct absorpt ...
with England.
Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...
and
Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...
were never merged with England, and so always retained some differences in their legal systems. The
Scottish Parliament The Scottish Parliament ( ; ) is the Devolution in the United Kingdom, devolved, unicameral legislature of Scotland. It is located in the Holyrood, Edinburgh, Holyrood area of Edinburgh, and is frequently referred to by the metonym 'Holyrood'. ...
and the
Northern Ireland Assembly The Northern Ireland Assembly (; ), often referred to by the metonym ''Stormont'', is the devolved unicameral legislature of Northern Ireland. It has power to legislate in a wide range of areas that are not explicitly reserved to the Parliam ...
both have deeper and wider powers. The Assembly inherited the powers and budget of the
Secretary of State for Wales The secretary of state for Wales (), also referred to as the Welsh secretary, is a secretary of state in the Government of the United Kingdom, with responsibility for the Wales Office. The incumbent is a member of the Cabinet of the United Ki ...
and most of the functions of the
Welsh Office The Welsh Office () was a department in the Government of the United Kingdom with responsibilities for Wales. It was established in April 1965 to execute government policy in Wales, and was headed by the Secretary of State for Wales, a post wh ...
. It has power to vary laws passed by
Westminster Westminster is the main settlement of the City of Westminster in Central London, Central London, England. It extends from the River Thames to Oxford Street and has many famous landmarks, including the Palace of Westminster, Buckingham Palace, ...
using secondary legislation. Following a referendum on 4 March 2011, the Welsh Assembly gained direct law-making powers (without the need to consult Westminster). On 3 July 2012, the Welsh Assembly passed its first Act, the Local Government Byelaws (Wales) Act. The Wales Act 2014 and Wales Act 2017 devolved the following taxes to the Welsh Assembly: * Non-Domestic Rates in Wales – from 1 April 2015 *
Land Transaction Tax Land Transaction Tax (LTT) () is a property tax in Wales. It replaced the Stamp Duty Land Tax from 1 April 2018. It became the first Welsh tax in almost 800 years. LTT is a tax applied to residential and commercial land and buildings transac ...
(LTT) – from 1 April 2018 * Landfill Disposals Tax (LDT) – from 1 April 2018 *
Welsh Rates of Income Tax Welsh may refer to: Related to Wales * Welsh, of or about Wales * Welsh language, spoken in Wales * Welsh people, an ethnic group native to Wales Places * Welsh, Arkansas, U.S. * Welsh, Louisiana, U.S. * Welsh, Ohio, U.S. * Welsh Basin, during t ...
(WRIT) – from 1 April 2019


Powers of the Senedd

The Senedd has the competence to pass bills for
Acts of Senedd Cymru An Act of Senedd Cymru (), or informally an Act of the Senedd (), is primary legislation that can be made by the Senedd (Welsh Parliament; ) under part 4 of the Government of Wales Act 2006 (as amended by the Wales Act 2017). Prior to 6 M ...
in all areas which are not explicitly reserved to Westminster; these 'reserved matters' are outlined in schedule 7A of the
Government of Wales Act 2006 The Government of Wales Act 2006 (c. 32) is an act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that reformed the then-National Assembly for Wales (now the Senedd) and allows further powers to be granted to it more easily. The Act creates a system ...
. This means the Senedd has powers over areas such as: * Agriculture,
fisheries Fishery can mean either the enterprise of raising or harvesting fish and other aquatic life or, more commonly, the site where such enterprise takes place ( a.k.a., fishing grounds). Commercial fisheries include wild fisheries and fish farm ...
,
forestry Forestry is the science and craft of creating, managing, planting, using, conserving and repairing forests and woodlands for associated resources for human and Natural environment, environmental benefits. Forestry is practiced in plantations and ...
and
rural development Rural development is the process of improving the quality of life, quality of life and economic well-being of people living in rural areas, often relatively isolated and sparsely populated areas. Often, rural regions have experienced rural povert ...
*
Culture Culture ( ) is a concept that encompasses the social behavior, institutions, and Social norm, norms found in human societies, as well as the knowledge, beliefs, arts, laws, Social norm, customs, capabilities, Attitude (psychology), attitudes ...
*
Economic development In economics, economic development (or economic and social development) is the process by which the economic well-being and quality of life of a nation, region, local community, or an individual are improved according to targeted goals and object ...
* Education and training * Environment * Health and health services * Highways and transport *
Local government Local government is a generic term for the lowest tiers of governance or public administration within a particular sovereign state. Local governments typically constitute a subdivision of a higher-level political or administrative unit, such a ...
*
Tourism Tourism is travel for pleasure, and the Commerce, commercial activity of providing and supporting such travel. World Tourism Organization, UN Tourism defines tourism more generally, in terms which go "beyond the common perception of tourism as ...
*
Welsh language Welsh ( or ) is a Celtic languages, Celtic language of the Brittonic languages, Brittonic subgroup that is native to the Welsh people. Welsh is spoken natively in Wales by about 18% of the population, by some in England, and in (the Welsh c ...
Reserved matters include subjects such as: * Foreign affairs * Police and justice * Currency * Most benefits * Most taxes * Defence


Members, constituencies, and electoral system

Under the
Additional Member System The additional-member system (AMS) is a two-vote seat-linkage-based mixed electoral system used in the United Kingdom in which most legislator, representatives are elected in single-member districts (SMDs), and a fixed number of other "addition ...
,
Electing the Welsh Assembly
'': Electoral Reform Society, information regarding
Additional member system The additional-member system (AMS) is a two-vote seat-linkage-based mixed electoral system used in the United Kingdom in which most legislator, representatives are elected in single-member districts (SMDs), and a fixed number of other "addition ...
elections. Retrieved 9 December 2005.
forty of the MSs are elected from single-member constituencies on a
plurality voting system Plurality voting refers to electoral systems in which the candidates in an electoral district who poll more than any other (that is, receive a plurality) are elected. Under single-winner plurality voting, and in systems based on single-member ...
(or ''first past the post'') basis, the constituencies being equivalent to those used for the
House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the Bicameralism, bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of ...
and twenty MSs are elected from regional
closed list Closed list describes the variant of party-list systems where voters can effectively vote for only political parties as a whole; thus they have no influence on the party-supplied order in which party candidates are elected. If voters had some in ...
s using an alternative party vote.The Welsh electoral system
BBC News, 7 June 1999. Retrieved 7 July 2006.
There are five regions:
Mid and West Wales Mid and West Wales or Mid and South West Wales is an ambiguous region of Wales that is sometimes used, consisting broadly of the preserved counties of Dyfed and Powys, sometimes Swansea and sometimes parts of Gwynedd. It is also used sometimes ...
,
North Wales North Wales ( ) is a Regions of Wales, region of Wales, encompassing its northernmost areas. It borders mid Wales to the south, England to the east, and the Irish Sea to the north and west. The area is highly mountainous and rural, with Snowdon ...
,
South Wales Central South Wales Central () is an electoral region of the Senedd, consisting of eight constituencies. The region elects 12 members, eight directly elected constituency members and four additional members. The electoral region was first used in 1999, ...
, South Wales East and South Wales West (these are the same as the pre 1999 European Parliament constituencies for Wales), each of which returns four members. The additional members produce a degree of proportionality within each region. Whereas voters can choose any regional party list irrespective of their party vote in the constituency election, list MSs are not elected independently of the constituency element; rather, elected constituency MSs are deemed to be pre-elected list representatives for the purposes of calculating remainders in the
D'Hondt method The D'Hondt method, also called the Jefferson method or the greatest divisors method, is an apportionment method for allocating seats in parliaments among federal states, or in proportional representation among political parties. It belongs to ...
. Overall proportionality is limited by the low proportion of list members (33% of the Senedd compared with 43% in the
Scottish Parliament The Scottish Parliament ( ; ) is the Devolution in the United Kingdom, devolved, unicameral legislature of Scotland. It is located in the Holyrood, Edinburgh, Holyrood area of Edinburgh, and is frequently referred to by the metonym 'Holyrood'. ...
and 50% in the German ''
Bundestag The Bundestag (, "Federal Diet (assembly), Diet") is the lower house of the Germany, German Federalism in Germany, federal parliament. It is the only constitutional body of the federation directly elected by the German people. The Bundestag wa ...
''), the regionalisation of the list element, and the lack of
overhang seat Overhang seats are constituency seats won in an election under the traditional mixed-member proportional (MMP) system (as it originated in Germany), when a party's share of the nationwide votes would entitle it to fewer seats than the number of ...
compensation and
leveling seat Leveling seats (, , , , ), commonly known also as adjustment seats, are an election mechanism employed for many years by all Nordic countries (except Finland) in elections for their national legislatures. Germany also used national leveling seats ...
s.Chapter 12: "The Electoral Arrangements" of th
Report of the Richard Commission
''Commission on the Powers and Electoral Arrangements of the National Assembly for Wales''. PDF document. Retrieved 8 July 2006.
Consequently, the Senedd as a whole has a greater degree of proportionality (based on proportions in the list elections) than the plurality voting system used for British parliamentary elections, but still deviates somewhat from proportionality. With the recently passed Senedd Cymru (members and elections) Act 2024 the voting system will be changed to a
closed list Closed list describes the variant of party-list systems where voters can effectively vote for only political parties as a whole; thus they have no influence on the party-supplied order in which party candidates are elected. If voters had some in ...
proportional representation Proportional representation (PR) refers to any electoral system under which subgroups of an electorate are reflected proportionately in the elected body. The concept applies mainly to political divisions (Political party, political parties) amon ...
system using the D’Hondt method with 6 seat constituencies. This will be enacted in 2026 and may be used for the next election if it is scheduled for after then. In April 2020 the Senedd became the first legislature in the UK to meet over the internet. Due to the consequences of the
COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...
, it held First Minister's Questions using
Zoom Zoom may refer to: Arts, entertainment and media Film * ''Zoom'' (2006 film), starring Tim Allen * ''Zoom'' (2015 film), a Canada-Brazil film by Pedro Morelli * ''Zoom'' (2016 Kannada film), a Kannada film * ''Zoom'' (2016 Sinhala film), a Sr ...
videotelephony Videotelephony (also known as videoconferencing or video calling) is the use of audio signal, audio and video for simultaneous two-way communication. Today, videotelephony is widespread. There are many terms to refer to videotelephony. ''Vide ...
software and the session was subsequently broadcast by Senedd.tv.


Elections

There have been six elections to the Senedd, in
1999 1999 was designated as the International Year of Older Persons. Events January * January 1 – The euro currency is established and the European Central Bank assumes its full powers. * January 3 – The Mars Polar Lander is launc ...
,
2003 2003 was designated by the United Nations as the International Year of Fresh water, Freshwater. In 2003, a Multi-National Force – Iraq, United States-led coalition 2003 invasion of Iraq, invaded Iraq, starting the Iraq War. Demographic ...
,
2007 2007 was designated as the International Heliophysical Year and the International Polar Year. Events January * January 1 **Bulgaria and Romania 2007 enlargement of the European Union, join the European Union, while Slovenia joins the Eur ...
,
2011 The year marked the start of a Arab Spring, series of protests and revolutions throughout the Arab world advocating for democracy, reform, and economic recovery, later leading to the depositions of world leaders in Tunisia, Egypt, and Yemen ...
,
2016 2016 was designated as: * International Year of Pulses by the sixty-eighth session of the United Nations General Assembly. * International Year of Global Understanding (IYGU) by the International Council for Science (ICSU), the Internationa ...
and
2021 Like the year 2020, 2021 was also heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, due to the emergence of multiple Variants of SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19 variants. The major global rollout of COVID-19 vaccines, which began at the end of 2020, continued ...
. The 2016 election was delayed from 2015 as the UK general election was held in 2015, and following the passing of the Wales Act 2014, elections occur every five years from the 2016 election. The
next Senedd election The next Senedd election is due to be held by 7 May 2026 to elect 96 members to the Senedd (Welsh Parliament; ). It will be the seventh devolved general election since the Senedd (formerly the National Assembly for Wales) was established in 1 ...
is due to be held on Thursday 7 May 2026.


Summary


Notes


Last election


Overall

, - , style="background:white;" colspan="15", , - !rowspan=3 colspan=2 , Parties !colspan=10 ,
Additional member system The additional-member system (AMS) is a two-vote seat-linkage-based mixed electoral system used in the United Kingdom in which most legislator, representatives are elected in single-member districts (SMDs), and a fixed number of other "addition ...
!rowspan=2 colspan=5 , Total seats , - !colspan=5 , Constituency !colspan=5 , Region , - ! Votes !! % !! +/− !! Seats !! +/− ! Votes !! % !! +/− !! Seats !! +/− ! Total !! +/− !! % , -


Turnout

Voter turnout at Senedd elections has been traditionally lower than UK general elections. No election since devolution began has hit 50% turnout, with the 2021 election being the highest at 46.6%. In their 2004 paper ''Turnout, Participation and Legitimacy in Post-Devolution Wales'', academics Roger Awan-Scully, Richard Wyn Jones and Dafydd Trystan Davies identified three potential reasons for this: antipathy to the Welsh institutions, apathy to the Welsh institutions or apathy to politics more generally. They suggested apathy – in Wales and to politics in general – is the most likely reason. Following the 2021 election, Dr Jac Larner, a politics lecturer at
Cardiff University Cardiff University () is a public research university in Cardiff, Wales. It was established in 1883 as the University College of South Wales and Monmouthshire and became a founding college of the University of Wales in 1893. It was renamed Unive ...
and an investigator for the Welsh election survey, said the lower turnout figures in Wales did not necessarily reflect a lack of perceived importance in the Senedd. He told
BBC News BBC News is an operational business division of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) responsible for the gathering and broadcasting of news and current affairs in the UK and around the world. The department is the world's largest broad ...
: "We know from research that low voter turnout is actually a lot do to with people thinking they can't win in a devolved election, so they don't bother going to vote. That's different to a general election where, in Wales, Labour are still more likely to win a majority of seats, but at the UK level it's far more competitive." He compared turnout in Wales to turnout for
Scottish Parliament The Scottish Parliament ( ; ) is the Devolution in the United Kingdom, devolved, unicameral legislature of Scotland. It is located in the Holyrood, Edinburgh, Holyrood area of Edinburgh, and is frequently referred to by the metonym 'Holyrood'. ...
elections, which is significantly higher: "Scotland is in quite a unique political position at the moment, where the single most salient issue and the biggest cleavage in society – the issue of
independence Independence is a condition of a nation, country, or state, in which residents and population, or some portion thereof, exercise self-government, and usually sovereignty, over its territory. The opposite of independence is the status of ...
– basically is going to be determined by what happens at the Holyrood elections. Part of it is this idea of interest – there has always been more interest in the idea of a Scottish Parliament, the Scottish Parliament has always been more powerful than the Senedd, even going back to 1999."


Current composition


Government formation

Welsh Labour won 30 seats out of 60 in the 2021 Senedd elections. On 9 May 2021 the First Minister,
Mark Drakeford Mark Drakeford (born 19 September 1954) is a Welsh politician who has served as Cabinet Secretary for Finance since September 2024, having previously held the position from 2016 to 2018. He previously served as First Minister of Wales and L ...
MS said "We have demonstrated over a number of governments that you can govern successfully on 30 seats, but I'm open to working with any party where there is common ground between us." On 22 November 2021, a deal between Welsh Labour and Plaid Cymru was announced. The agreement was not one which saw Plaid Cymru entering a coalition in government with Labour, with Plaid Cymru MSs remaining in opposition. However, Plaid Cymru were able to appoint special advisors to the Welsh Government in a deal which was designed to last for three years. On 17 May 2024, Plaid Cymru announced it would uniliaterally exit the agreement due to concerns with the Labour government's ethics.


See also

* Welsh law *
Act of Senedd Cymru An Act of Senedd Cymru (), or informally an Act of the Senedd (), is primary legislation that can be made by the Senedd (Welsh Parliament; ) under part 4 of the Government of Wales Act 2006 (as amended by the Wales Act 2017). Prior to 6 May ...
*
List of by-elections to the Senedd This is a list of by-elections to the Senedd (Welsh Parliament; ; formerly known as the National Assembly for Wales). :''Where seats changed political party at the by-election, the result is highlighted.'' ''*Peter Law left the Labour Party and s ...
* Regional member changes to the Senedd *
Member of the Senedd A member of the Senedd (MS; plural: ''MSs''; ; , plural: ) is a representative elected to the Senedd (Welsh Parliament; ). There are sixty members, with forty members chosen to represent individual Senedd constituency, Senedd constituencies, a ...
*
Scottish Parliament The Scottish Parliament ( ; ) is the Devolution in the United Kingdom, devolved, unicameral legislature of Scotland. It is located in the Holyrood, Edinburgh, Holyrood area of Edinburgh, and is frequently referred to by the metonym 'Holyrood'. ...
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Northern Ireland Assembly The Northern Ireland Assembly (; ), often referred to by the metonym ''Stormont'', is the devolved unicameral legislature of Northern Ireland. It has power to legislate in a wide range of areas that are not explicitly reserved to the Parliam ...
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Senedd constituencies and electoral regions The Senedd constituencies and electoral regions () are the electoral districts used to elect members of the Senedd (MS; ) to the Senedd (Welsh Parliament; ), and have been used in some form since the first election of the then ''National Assemb ...
* Wales-only laws * List of Senedd elections *
List of devolved matters in Wales In the United Kingdom, devolved matters are the areas of public policy where the Parliament of the United Kingdom has devolved its legislative power to the national legislatures of Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, while reserved matters ...


References


External links

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The Queen opens the First Welsh Assembly 1999

Senedd.tv website
{{coord, 51, 27, 55, N, 3, 09, 37, W, source:kolossus-plwiki, display=title Politics of Wales Unicameral legislatures 1998 establishments in Wales Welsh parliaments Legislatures of country subdivisions