The Independent Commission on the Constitutional Future of Wales – the latest installment in the Welsh Constitutional Universe franchise – recently published its final report (Cymraeg – pdf; English – pdf).
There’s also an easy-to-read version (Cymraeg – pdf; English – pdf).
The Commission was a 2021 Labour Senedd election manifesto commitment and was taken forward under the co-operation agreement with Plaid Cymru. The entire exercise cost just over £1.5million.
The Commission was tasked with considering options for strengthening Welsh democracy and devolution, as well as options for Wales’ long-term constitutional future.
This was going to be a piece about post-politics in Wales – why we don’t “do” politics anymore. Ironically, I couldn’t be bothered. That’ll be touched on in a separate mini-series on independence and democracy starting in March.
As a primer to that, this piece looks at the Commission’s findings and the chances of anything being delivered (lol).
What were the key findings?
- Citizens’ panel members had more understanding about who is responsible for what within the UK than they realise (the main confusion was around policing and broadcasting). They just lack confidence about that knowledge. There was more confusion amongst the population as a whole, with levels of knowledge about devolution not changing much since 2013.
- People who took part consistently told the Commission that their vote and voice has little meaningful influence on decisions made by governments.
- 73% agreed that they don’t see enough news about how Wales is run in the media. TV, online and social media are the most popular news sources. Only the over-65s rely on newspapers in great numbers.
- The public cares about how things are run, but they consider them more in terms of services (i.e. NHS) than abstract constitutional discussions.
- A slight majority (54%) believed governance in Wales “works well” compared to those who disagreed (43%). Perhaps unsurprisingly, Labour, Plaid Cymru and Lib Dem supporters were more positive than Conservatives. Younger people were also more positive than older people.
- Support for ending devolution is often accompanied with disagreement around specific Welsh Government policies. Wales is “unusual”, as dissatisfaction with government performance in other nations isn’t used to argue for abolishing parliaments.
- “No reasoned proposal” for abolishing the Senedd was provided. No proposal considered the practicalities of reversing 25 years of self-government or took into account current UK Government policies to devolve powers within England.
- Local government powers and reorganisation should be looked at again, but it was beyond the Commission’s remit to make any recommendations.
What were the Commission’s recommendations?
- The Welsh Government should work with the public to draft a “statement of constitutional and governance principles” to act as a form of written constitution for devolution.
- There need to be more ways for the public to actively take part in decision-making (dubbed “deliberative and participatory democracy”). For example: crowdsourcing, citizens’ initiatives and asking the public to help set budgets.
- Proposed Senedd reforms should be reviewed independently to determine what effect they’ve had.
What are the chances of delivery going forward?
The electoral reform element is being taken forward in the Senedd & Elections Bill, though the Welsh Government and Senedd have done their best to overthink and overwork it. As things stand, we’re heading towards a system that’s less democratic than the one we have now – taking power away from voters to choose their constituency representative (at least) and putting that power in the hands of political parties.
Myself and others been banging on about things like a weak Welsh media for years. The wrong questions are being asked and the wrong solutions are being sought. Symptoms are treated, not underlying causes.
The recommendations around participatory democracy were interesting, but I doubt those in positions of influence trust the public to make the “right” decisions – especially since Brexit (which would mean the powers that be won’t have learned anything). I can see token pilots being undertaken at a local level then quietly abandoned.
Verdict
No shocks or surprises. The people who “need to know” about this knew about it already.
