Local Government legislation is a missed opportunity say Welsh Liberal Democrats

12.00.00am BST (GMT +0100) Tue 14th Jul 2009

New legislation from the Welsh Government to draw down powers over local government will be a missed opportunity to widen participation in our democratic process if it does not give the Assembly powers to change the voting system or reduce the voting age to 16, the Welsh Liberal Democrat Local Government Spokesperson, Peter Black has said,.

Mr. Black was referring to the Local Government Legislative Competence Order which is being debated in the Assembly today. The Government is using it to draw down quite specific powers to legislate on Community Councils, Councillor allowances and the recruitment and retention of Councillors but has specifically excluded voting arrangements and extending the franchise.

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"By specifying these exceptions the Government is missing an important opportunity to involve young people in the democratic process and to achieve fairer outcomes in local Council elections," said Mr. Black. "Such powers will become very important if a there were a reorganisation of local councils after the next Assembly elections. If bigger Councils were created without a provision for fairer voting then the Government would be leaving itself open to the charge of gerrymandering so as to re-establish Labour's previous stranglehold on local government."

"I can understand a conservative party such as Welsh Labour not wanting to rock the boat but where is Plaid Cymru in all of this? They are meant to be partners in this government and they have long-standing policy on both the voting age and fair voting. Have they not tried to put their point of view? Why are they so content to allow this opportunity to be missed to give the Assembly the full range of powers over local government for the future?"

"Does this mean that when the next coalition comes to be negotiated we will be reduced to setting up more reviews on fair voting rather than getting on with doing it? Does it mean that at best we will get a commitment to draw down the powers over a four year period without actually doing anything about it? The LCO process is like pulling teeth at the best of times without having to put up with such limited ambitions on the part of the two governing parties."