So Which Voting System for Wales?

There was an interesting and lively debate on Radio Wales this morning between Plaid's Jonathan Edwards MP and Labour's Owen Smith MP, relating to the implications of reducing the number of Welsh Westminster constituencies. Plaid kicked off by suggesting that there should be 30 constituency AMs in 2016 and 30 regional AMs. This was apparently not ruled out by the Tory Minister in London Cheryl Gillan. However, Owen Smith suggested that having two constituency AMs in each seat would be the best model. The Plaid proposal would be more proportional and therefore not helpful to Labour whereas Owen Smith's idea would more of less guarantee Labour a big fat majority, far more than the proportion of their vote.

Thye reduction of MPs is a difficult one for Labour, as a reduction in Welsh MPs is bound to hit them in terms of winning back Westminster and with half an eye on Scotland moving towards greater independence, they would not have a hope of winning the British election again, unless they moved substantially to the right to accommodate the priorities of the English electorate.

There would be no prizes for guessing what Labour's preferred option would be if they were in power in London, creating a glorified Labour Council running Wales (Lord help us all). So with the Tories in power with their Liberal whipping boys, it will be very interesting to see what the preferred option is. Of course and as Jonathan Edwards pointed out, STV (single transferrable vote) with some form of constituency tie would be the best option for Wales, but as with so many policies and principles affecting Wales, both Labour and the Tories are united in opposing this. You know, they have far more in common than they realise.

Let the debate begin!