Welsh government: Senedd gender quota plan postponed

The Welsh government says it is "doing further work" on the proposed law

Plans to create a gender-equal Senedd have been postponed days before they were due to be published.

The Welsh government said it was "doing further work" on a law that says how many male and female candidates parties must put up for election.

There have been questions over whether the Senedd has the power to pass the law.

It is part of a plan to increase the number of Members of the Senedd (MSs) from 60 to 96.

A bill creating the bigger Senedd was published in September, with Labour and Plaid Cymru hoping to get it approved in time for the 2026 election.

Gender quotas are in a different bill in case they are challenged in the courts.

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If that happened it could jeopardise the plan for a bigger Senedd.

There have been claims the Senedd cannot introduce gender quotas because equal opportunities laws are made in Westminster.

MSs were told by lawyers they lacked the required powers, a Conservative said last year.

Darren Millar, who was a member of a Senedd expansion committee, called the legal advice "clear".

The Welsh government declined to confirm the reason for the delay or say how long it would last.

It said: "We are doing further work on the Senedd Cymru (Electoral Candidate Lists) Bill, which means we will not be publishing on 4 December, as originally anticipated."

In October leaked draft legislation suggested the government wanted the law to state that transgender women candidates would be counted as women.

The reforms are a key part of First Minister Mark Drakeford's co-operation deal with Plaid Cymru.

In June, the first minister said the government was "confident that we have the legal scope… But it is an area in which other views may be possible and where a challenge might be mounted".

The Tories boycotted a committee which last year recommended legally-backed quotas.

However, the committee found differing views on whether it was possible and "noted a range of advice on the Senedd's legislative competence to introduce gender quotas".

Commenting on the delay, on Thursday, Mr Millar said it had been "abundantly clear from legal advice from previous Senedd committees that the Senedd does not have the competence to introduce this bill".

"So I hope that this is the beginning of gender quotas being ditched.

"I have always believed that people should be elected on the basis of merit and not by gender."

When bills are published, the presiding officer makes a statement confirming it is "within the legislative competence" of the Senedd - meaning it has the necessary powers.

The Senedd said it could not comment until then.

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