Labour in Wales has a long history of putting self-interest and party-interest before the interests and needs of the Welsh people. Now they are really taking the biscuit by proposing 'a reform' of the electoral system that would give them around 70% of the seats in the National Assembly with barely 42% of the vote.
An Electoral Reform Society report has shone a little light on labour in Wales's dubious proposal. At present, 40 AMs are elected as a result of first-past-the-post contests and the remaining 20 are elected from regional lists based upon the percentage of votes cast. Labour with a bare majority in the National Assembly has long looked for an opportunity to make a change to an electoral system that fails to guarantee it a permanent majority.
Now they have their chance in the wake of UK government plans to cut the number of MPs from 40 to 30. Labour in Wales publicly opposes reducing the number of assembly constituencies to match the boundaries of new parliamentary seats. The ERS report suggests that Labour could win "disproportionately" more seats if all Welsh Assembly members were elected via the first-past-the-post system.
Scrapping the semi-proportional elections would deny thousands of voters a voice. Naturally Labour in Wales insists it opposes changing the electoral system and accused the ERS of "misrepresenting" its position. Hmmm....over to you Peter (the pain) Hain...
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