Thursday 10 March 2011

No rush he said, ....

... Carwyn Jones that is, it's just a shame he didn't tell his cabinet.  Or more to the point, Rural Affairs Minister Elin Jones and Health Minister Edwina Hart, both pieces of legislation contraversial, both pieces of legislation questionable.  Jones wants to slaughter badgers even though the reason for such action is rapidly reducing and Hart wants your body organs to become WAG property even though compulsion has been demonstrated in Spain as being ineffectual.

So how do the political representatives in opposition resist unneeded and unnecessary legislation in a unicameral legislative body where a single group holds a very dominant position, seemingly in perpetuity, the Welsh Assembly Government is in effect a dictatorship that cannot be effectively opposed except at the four yearly elections.

If a politician were able to challenge the government of the day, with a large enough body of Assembly Members, 20% for example, to put the question to the electorate in a referendum might be a good first step,something similar to Denmark where ...

Where a Bill has been passed by the Folketing (Welsh Assembly), one-third of the members of the Folketing (Welsh Assembly) may, within three weekdays from the final passing of the Bill, request of the President that the Bill be submitted to a referendum. Such request shall be made in writing and signed by the members making the request.
Just as with the Danish model, it shouldn't be designed to hamstring the day to day running of government, therefore certain administrative areas such as budget might be excluded, for example in Denmark its constitution continues ...

Finance Bills, Supplementary Appropriation Bills, Provisional Appropriation Bills, Government Loan Bills, Civil Servants (Amendment) Bills, Salaries and Pensions Bills, Naturalization Bills, Expropriation Bills, Taxation (Direct and Indirect) Bills, as well as Bills introduced for the purpose of discharging existing treaty obligations shall not be submitted to decision by referendum.
With a population of five and a half million, Denmark is not so dissimilar to Wales, though its Parliament consists of 175 members, one member to 30,000 people, the combination of MP's and AM's is a very close match.

Would sufficient people support a petition to the Assembly to create such a tool for our elected members to hold the Welsh Assembly Government to account, or is such a concept alien to Welsh democracy, accountabil;ity to to whole electorate, not just to its particular agenda.

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