David Chadwick MP questions Senedd reform’s impact on democracy

Tindle News

David Chadwick has questioned whether a new way of electing Senedd Members could “undermine the spirit of democracy.”  The Brecon, Radnor and Cwm Tawe MP raised the issue during a Commons debate on the 185th anniversary of the Chartist uprising in Newport.  Video from parliamentlive.tv

Transcript

00:00I'd like to thank her for bringing this debate forward tonight, so we can pay a special tribute

00:08to the role that Wales has played in forming our democracy over the years. But is she not

00:13concerned that the proposed new system for elections in Wales, whereby one vote will

00:19return six Senedd members, threatens to undermine the spirit of democracy as the Chartists understood

00:27it?

00:28I'm sure it's not. I'm not going to be drawn into talking about the Welsh elections in

00:33this debate tonight, but it's a system that has been devised by the Welsh Senedd and voted

00:38on and I'm sure it's one in which people will be able to participate fully when the elections

00:43come in 2026. The message of the Chartists is more important than ever, especially today

00:48on the eve of the US elections and amidst global turmoil. We witnessed Russia's invasion

00:53of Ukraine, electoral uncertainty in Moldova, an increase in threats to Taiwan from China

00:59and more. Threats to democracy globally are manifesting in different ways, but all combining

01:04to make people feel that politics and democracy can't fix anything. Yet having our say from

01:09voting to engaging with our politicians or taking part in public consultations or demonstrating

01:15does matter and does make a difference. We live in a world today where more people than

01:19at any time in history are able to have a say on who makes the rules. And as all of

01:24us who sit in this place say, every vote counts, every vote can make a difference. I know the

01:29Foreign Secretary and his ministers will hold to account and take action against those who

01:33seek to cynically undermine and degrade the integrity of the democracies around the world,

01:38including our own, to support those fighting to protect them. But closer to home, Madam

01:43Deputy Speaker, 185 years on, it was working people once again who this summer, using those

01:49same hard-won rights, returned a majority of Labour MPs in each nation and region of

01:54Great Britain to deliver a government determined to change our country. For the first time

01:58in 14 years, I am proud to be part of a Labour party of government in Westminster, which

02:03over the course of the next five years will deliver on our manifesto promises to double

02:08down on the Chartist legacy, to strengthen our democracy in the interests of working

02:12people and to restore public trust in politics as a force for good.

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