Introduction
1.These Explanatory Notes are for the Senedd Cymru (Members and Elections) Act 2024, which was passed by Senedd Cymru on 08 May 2024 and received Royal Assent on 24 June 2024. They have been prepared by the Economy, Treasury and Constitution Group of the Welsh Government to assist the reader of the Act. The Explanatory Notes should be read in conjunction with the Act but are not part of it.
2.The Act makes provision for increasing the number of Members of the Senedd, by amending the number of constituencies and the number of seats for each constituency and abolishing the five electoral regions. It also makes associated changes resulting from this change in size. These include increasing the limit on the number of Welsh Ministers and providing for an additional Deputy Presiding Officer who may be elected from the Senedd.
3.The Act also provides for changing the Senedd’s mixed member electoral system so that all Members are elected through a closed list proportional system, with votes translated into seats using the D’Hondt formula. In association, it provides for an expansion of the role of the Local Democracy and Boundary Commission for Wales, and renames it as the Democracy and Boundary Commission Cymru (“the Commission”). The Act gives the Commission the function of undertaking ongoing reviews of Senedd constituency boundaries and makes related changes to how the Commission is constituted. It also sets out the rules and processes the Commission must follow in undertaking its boundary reviews, including in respect of the streamlined review to pair the 32 new UK Parliamentary constituencies in advance of the scheduled 2026 Senedd election (to form 16 new Senedd constituencies), a full review in advance of the scheduled 2030 election, and ongoing periodic reviews.
4.The Act will also return the normal length of time between Senedd ordinary general elections to 4 years; require Members of the Senedd, and candidates to be Members, to be registered in the register of local government electors at an address within Wales; provide for a requirement that the Presiding Officer asks the Senedd (by way of a motion tabled) to consider a review of the operation of the new legislative provisions following the 2026 election and provide for a requirement that the Presiding Officer asks the Senedd (by way of a motion tabled) to undertake work to explore practical and legislative considerations relating to implementing job sharing of certain offices related to the Senedd and the Welsh Government.