Senedd reform: Ministers urged to avoid court challenge

Welsh ministers have been warned to make sure plans to increase the number of politicians in the Senedd are not hit by a legal challenge over gender quotas.

Proposals to increase MSs from 60 to 96 include one aimed at boosting the representation of women.

But parts of the UK's law on equality are controlled by Westminster.

A senior politician said ministers must write the new law in a way it "cannot be successfully challenged".

Huw Irranca-Davies MS, who was chairman of a committee looking at options for Senedd reform, wants the changes in place for the 2026 Senedd election.

Options could include bringing forward two separate bills in case the gender quota legislation has to be considered by the Supreme Court.

Speaking to Walescast, BBC Wales' politics podcast, Mr Irranca-Davies said the Welsh government must consider a "what if scenario".

"The worst case scenario where a challenge would drag this, or an element of this, into the long grass, that is something that Welsh government lawyers need to think about very carefully in crafting this bill."

He said: "In taking forward that legislation they need to make sure that if there were to be any challenge… that this bill would not be derailed."

The Committee on Senedd Reform recommended increasing the number of MSs from 60 to 96, getting rid of the first past the post voting system, and introducing quotas for the number of men and women elected.

The power of the Senedd to legislate in certain areas has been tested in the Supreme Court with three bills in the past.

In their report, published earlier this week, the committee said government officials concluded a court challenge would cause a "significant delay".

The report said a delay of 10 months could mean the legislation would not be passed in time for the 2026 election.

The committee wants to see the new system in place in time for the next Senedd election in 2026, which is why Mr Irranca-Davies raised the possibility of a "parachute option".

Mr Irranca-Davies said his committee had taken legal advice on the gender quotas issue and "we're convinced this can be done" and is in the power of the Senedd, but it would require careful drafting of the legislation.

"My preference as committee chair is that this goes through wholesale, and it's crafted in such a way that there cannot be a successful judicial challenge," he said.

"But one of the things that Welsh government lawyers will need to take a view on is that if there was to be a successful legal challenge, what does that do to the rest of the bill?"

"If the bill as an entirety were to be challenged successfully," he said, "what are the chances that another opportunity for delivering reform on this scale would be taken again?"