The Welsh Assembly Elections May 2007: the Formation of the Welsh Assembly Government and Recent Developments in the Assembly
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The Welsh Assembly elections May 2007: the formation of the Welsh Assembly Government and recent developments in the Assembly Standard Note: SN/PC/4407 Last updated: 30 July 2007 Author: Helen Holden Parliament and Constitution Centre This Standard Note summarises the results of the Welsh Assembly elections in May 2007; the nomination of the First Minister and formation of the Welsh Assembly Government and recent developments in the National Assembly for Wales, including the election of the Presiding Officer and Deputy Presiding Officer, the election of the Assembly Commission and the setting up of committees. It also looks at the way in which the Assembly will be able to acquire new powers (via Legislative Competence Orders) to pass legislation called Assembly Measures. The involvement of Westminster in the pre-legislative scrutiny and approval of these Orders and the Welsh Affairs Committee’s recent inquiry on the subject are noted. Contents A. Welsh Assembly elections 3 May 2007 3 B. Separation between the National Assembly for Wales and the Welsh Assembly Government 3 C. The new Welsh Assembly Government 4 1. Welsh Ministers 4 2. Nomination of the First Minister 5 3. Formation of the new Welsh Assembly Government 5 4. The Counsel General 9 D. The National Assembly for Wales after the elections 9 1. Election of the Presiding Officer 9 2. Opening of the Third Assembly 9 3. Setting up of committees 10 E. National Assembly for Wales Commission 11 F. Consideration of legislation by the Assembly 12 1. Background 12 2. Legislative Competence Orders 14 3. Measures 15 4. Subordinate legislation 16 G. Welsh Affairs Committee inquiry on Legislative Competence Orders 16 Standard Notes are compiled for the benefit of Members of Parliament and their personal staff. Authors are available to discuss the contents of these papers with Members and their staff but cannot advise others. H. Chronology 21 I. Sources and further reading 23 1. Websites 23 2. National Assembly for Wales 23 a. Procedural 23 b. Members’ Research Service 23 3. Welsh Assembly Government 24 4. Party material 24 5. UK Parliament 24 6. Legislation 24 2 A. Welsh Assembly elections 3 May 2007 The elections were held on 3 May 2007, with the following results. The figures in brackets indicate the number of seats won in the previous elections in 2003: Party Total seats won (change) 2007 2003 Conservative 12 11 (+1) Labour 26 30 (-4) Liberal Democrat 6 6 (0) Plaid Cymru 15 12 (+3) Others 1 1 (0) Source: House of Commons Library Research Paper 07/45 For further information on the elections see Library Research Paper 07/45 National Assembly for Wales elections: 3 May 20071 and National Assembly for Wales Members’ Research Service Briefing Paper 07/069 2007 Assembly election results (updated).2 Labour with 26 seats is the largest party in the new Assembly but does not have a majority of seats. A period of negotiations between the parties followed the elections on 3 May with the outgoing First Minister, the Rt Hon Rhodri Morgan AM (Labour), eventually nominated as the new First Minister on 25 May. B. Separation between the National Assembly for Wales and the Welsh Assembly Government The Government of Wales Act 1998 (the 1998 Act) established the National Assembly for Wales as a single corporate body, with secondary legislative powers and 60 Assembly Members. The Government of Wales Act 2006 (the 2006 Act)3 provided for a formal legal separation between: • The National Assembly for Wales, which is the legislature comprising the 60 Assembly Members, and • The Welsh Assembly Government, which is the executive comprising the First Minister, Welsh Ministers, Deputy Welsh Ministers and the Counsel General. This separation between legislature and executive took effect once the First Minister had been appointed by Her Majesty the Queen following the Assembly elections on 3 May 2007. Separation should help to clarify the respective roles of the legislature and the executive. 1 http://www.parliament.uk/commons/lib/research/rp2007/rp07-045.pdf 2 http://www.assemblywales.org/07-069.pdf 3 2006 Chapter 32: http://www.opsi.gov.uk/acts/acts2006/20060032.htm (as passed) 3 The role of the executive in respect of the subjects devolved to Wales (including the economy, health, education and local government)4 is now to: • develop and implement policy • exercise executive functions • make subordinate legislation (regulations and statutory guidance) • propose Assembly Measure (Welsh laws) The 60 Assembly Members in the National Assembly will now: • scrutinise the executive’s policies and decisions • hold Ministers to account • approve budgets for the Welsh Assembly Government’s programmes • propose, examine and approve Assembly Measures (which go further than the subordinate legislation they previously had the power to make) • approve some subordinate legislation These arrangements now mirror much more closely the relationship between the UK Government and the Westminster Parliament and that between the Scottish Executive and the Scottish Parliament. The new National Assembly is not a corporate body and so a third body, the National Assembly Commission, was established in May 2007. C. The new Welsh Assembly Government 1. Welsh Ministers The Welsh Assembly Government now consists of: • the First Minister • the Welsh Ministers • the Deputy Welsh Ministers • the Counsel General The provisions of the 2006 Act allow up to 12 Welsh Ministers and Deputy Ministers. This means that the maximum size of the Welsh Assembly Government is 14, including the First Minister and Counsel General. The Act makes new provision for the appointment of Welsh Ministers. The First Minister is nominated by the Assembly and then appointed by the Queen. The First Minister subsequently appoints the Welsh Ministers and the Deputy Welsh Ministers, with the approval of the Queen. The Act also creates a new post of Counsel General, who is the chief legal adviser to the Welsh Assembly Government. The Counsel General is appointed by the Queen, on the nomination of the First Minister, whose recommendation needs to be 4 for the full list of broad subject areas, or “fields”, see F1 4 agreed by the National Assembly. The Counsel General may be, but does not have to be, an Assembly Member. Under the 1998 Act executive functions were conferred on the National Assembly for Wales and then separately delegated to the First Minister and to other Cabinet Ministers and staff as appropriate. Following separation, the Welsh Ministers exercise functions in their own right and further transfers of executive functions from the UK Government will be made directly to the Welsh Ministers (with their consent) by an Order in Council approved by Parliament. In the performance of their duties, Ministers are expected to behave according to the highest standards of constitutional and personal conduct. The Ministerial Code5 issued by the First Minister6 provides guidance to Ministers on how they should act and behave in order to uphold these standards. 2. Nomination of the First Minister The 2006 Act7 provides for the First Minister to be appointed by the Queen on the recommendation of the Presiding Officer, following a vote in the Assembly. The Act and Standing Orders of the Assembly8 set out the procedure for the Assembly to choose and nominate one of its Members for appointment as First Minister and for the Presiding Officer to recommend the appointment of that person to the Queen. The Assembly must nominate a First Minister before the end of the period of 28 days after a general election.9 In 2007 this period ended at midnight on 30 May. Following the election on 3 May no party had an overall majority (see Section A above) and there ensued a period of negotiations between the parties on the form of the new government for Wales. The outgoing First Minister, the Rt Hon Rhodri Morgan AM (Labour), was eventually nominated as the new First Minister on 25 May10 and appointed by the Queen. 3. Formation of the new Welsh Assembly Government Rhodri Morgan’s first cabinet was announced on 31 May and comprised the following seven Labour AMs:11 5 Welsh Assembly Government, Ministerial code: a code of ethics and procedural guidance for Ministers and Deputy Ministers, June 2007: http://new.wales.gov.uk/docrepos/40382/403823111111/MinisterialCode2.pdf?lang=en 6 Rt Hon Rhodri Morgan AM, Cabinet Ministers and Deputy Ministers, June 2007: http://new.wales.gov.uk/docrepos/40382/403823111111/MinisterialCode-corresponde1.pdf?lang=en 7 Government of Wales Act 2006 ss46-47: http://www.opsi.gov.uk/acts/acts2006/60032--c.htm#46 8 National Assembly for Wales, Standing Orders of the National Assembly for Wales, March 2007, in particular Standing Order 4.1 and Temporary Standing Order 36: http://www.assemblywales.org/bus-docs-third-standingorders.pdf 9 or other event as specified in the Government of Wales Act 2006 s.47: http://www.opsi.gov.uk/acts/acts2006/60032--c.htm#47 10 National Assembly for Wales, Record of proceedings, 25 May 2007: http://www.assemblywales.org/bus-home/bus-chamber/rhif1 11 Welsh Assembly Government press release, ‘First Minister announces Cabinet for third term’, 31 May 2007: http://new.wales.gov.uk/news/ThirdAssembly/OFM/2007/1543867/?lang=en 5 First Minister Rhodri Morgan Strategy, science, Europe, Wales in the World Minister for Health and Edwina Hart NHS, public health, social Social Services services Minister for Education, Carwyn Jones Children and early years, Culture and the Welsh schools, 14-19 year olds, Language skills, FE, HE, Welsh language, sport,