Less is more

The soon-to-be-former First Minister of Wales Rhodri Morgan has used his regular press conference, sitting alongside Welsh Secretary Peter Hain, to warn of the dangers of reducing the number of Members of Parliament representing Wales in the House of Commons.

The duo make an absurd claim that plans, set out by David Cameron, to reduce the number of Westminster MPs throughout the UK, would lead to a reduction in the ability of the National Assembly of Wales to do its job properly.

This is utter nonsense. First, the Government of Wales Act may link the number of Westminster Constituencies directly to the number of Assembly Members, but such details in legislation can be amended. Second, Cameron hasn't outlined in any detail what his plans for an overall UK reduction in the number of MPs would mean for Wales. Third, I find it bizarre to claim that a reduction in the number of Assembly Members would actually lead to the kind of gridlock and paralysis in Cardiff Bay painted by Morgan and Hain. 

Of course, Assembly Members will cry out that they are so busy and that they couldn't possibly do another hour's more work a week and that a reduction in their number would be catastrophic and an end to all the wonderfully good things that the Assembly does for education, health and the economy in Wales (ahem!). 

As Boris might say, what piffle!