Make votes matter in Wales

If you would like to see a fairer voting system used for council elections in Wales, please respond to the Welsh Government's consultation on electoral reform before 10th October.

If you want to respond to the whole consultation (there are other interesting issues, including votes for 16 and 17 year olds), you can fill in a form available online here. Note that if you want to support STV, it is probably best to do this under the final Question 46 ("other related issues").

Alternatively, you may find it simpler to write your own response as an email to RLGProgramme@wales.gsi.gov.uk with subject: "Consultation on Electoral reform in local government in Wales" and stating which parts of the consultation you wish to comment on, e.g. "Section 4. The voting system"

One simple response would be to ask that the Welsh Assembly to follow the example of the Labour/LD coalition in Scotland, which brought in STV for council elections through a simple act of the Scottish Parliament, the Local Governance (Scotland) Act 2004. Note also that Northern Ireland has had STV for council elections since 1973 (brought in by a Conservative government at Westminster).

Liberal Democrats for Electoral Reform executive committee member Denis Mollison has written an article on this issue for Liberal Democrat Voice which includes more information about the consultation, and what sort of responses might help to secure fairer voting in Wales.