Misbehaving Welsh Senedd politicians could be voted out | UK News

Voters could be given the opportunity to kick politicians who have misbehaved out of the Welsh Parliament.

Members of the Senedd (MS) who break rules on behaviour could face a referendum-style vote on whether they should continue to serve in Cardiff Bay.

Unlike in Westminster recall by-elections, the politician would be replaced with someone else from the same party.

Hannah Blythyn, chair of the committee that drew up the proposals, said: “Politicians must act with decency and integrity and if they fail to do so, they should be accountable to the public for their actions.”

But the standard’s committee’s proposals have been criticised by an election reform group, which said voters could lose out and would be unable to choose who replaces the misbehaving MS.

The plans would need to be made law through a bill by the Welsh government, which ministers have promised to pass before the next election in May 2026.

Currently, if Senedd members are found to have broken the code of conduct on behaviour they can be suspended for a period of time, but unlike Westminster they cannot be removed from the parliament altogether.

It means that when Rhys ab Owen was suspended for six weeks after he was found to have inappropriately touched two women on a night out, he faced no prospect of being removed as an MS.

Had he been a Westminster MP, he would have been subject to a recall petition which, if signed by 10% of his electorate, would have triggered a new by-election.

There have been longstanding calls for the system to change, but the issue has come to a head recently, as the Senedd prepares to expand to 96 members with a new electoral system.

Under the committee’s proposals the process could work like this:

Party A fields a list of candidates in constituency B at the next Senedd election.

Candidate one is elected, but then is found to have broken Senedd rules in a way that is serious enough for the standards committee to recommend a recall process.

If the Senedd approves that recommendation, a vote is held six weeks later where voters in constituency B can decide if candidate one should keep their seat or if it should be given instead to the second candidate on party A’s original list.

That would be the case too even if candidate number one had left party A by then.

The idea of a recall process was welcomed by members of the public in Brecon, Powys.

Susan Ballantine, 69, said: “I think it’s absolutely right that if, as a British Parliament we have recall, then in the Welsh Parliament we should have the facility to be able to use recall as well.”

Shauna Jones, 26, said: “It’s all about trust, really, isn’t it?

“You want to be able to trust them and they’re not going to get the votes if they’re doing untrustworthy things. So yeah, I think we’ve got every right to boot them out.”

Nigel Smith, 66, said: “If somebody does something wrong, and when they’re in such a level of authority, they should understand that they’re responsible for what they do, and if they’re not, then the public should decide if you stay or go.”

To make the new process simple to understand, the committee proposed a “remove and replace” ballot.

Voters would choose whether to keep the existing politician, or replace them with the next person on the list of the party that the individual was elected from.

But the public would not have a chance to vote for a different party – in common with the system as a whole, which from 2026 has no provision for by-elections.

From 2026, the new 96-member Senedd will be elected from a proportional system of so-called “closed-lists”, named as such because voters will only be able to back a party, rather than the individuals up for election.

It has been criticised for restricting choice, with voters unable to pick an individual candidate.

Jess Blair, director of electoral reform campaigners ERS Cymru, said: “Voters are once again at risk of losing out without the ability to choose who replaces their MS.”

She said the plan for a seat to go to the next person on the list “seriously limits accountability and could lead to a scenario where the public feel a party has been rewarded for the bad actions of one of its members”.

The committee makes the case for a separate piece of work to decide what triggers a ballot in the Senedd.

But it says if a set number of days is required in the law, the committee “strongly advises” it is greater than the 10 days, instead suggesting an amount of about 21 days – a three week suspension.

It also argues an MS is subject to a ballot if they are given a prison sentence of up to 12 months.

Currently if an MS is sentenced longer than that, they are automatically disqualified from being a politician.

Complaints about behaviour are investigated by the standards commissioner, with recommendations on punishment made by the standards committee of the Senedd.

A Welsh government spokesperson said: “We will consider the committee’s recommendations in detail and respond in due course.”

By Gareth Lewis, Wales political editor

It might surprise you to learn that as things stand there is no way for you to remove or recall your MS mid-term if they break Senedd rules in a serious way – as you could do with your MP.

This will change – and you might get that chance – from the next Senedd election in 2026 if the Welsh government agrees with the committee’s recommendations and brings in a new law.

There would still be work to do before the next election in agreeing guidelines on what level of offence or suspension from the Senedd would trigger the recall process if that is not specifically included in the new law.

Even though the change is significant and has cross-party support there are still reservations.

You might think – as ERS Cymru does – that a system that allowed you to boot out a party, not just the party’s MS, would be preferable.

Additional reporting by Cemlyn Davies.