All legislation should pass the merit test of doing what it says on the tin.

Our amendments sought to ensure that this would be the case. It is therefore both regrettable and concerning that these were all defeated and, in consequence, avoidable allegations about the First Minister’s motives are bound to be raised if he does choose to exercise the powers given to him by this Bill.

The people deserved better. We understand that the Welsh Government needs some flexibility if Coronavirus cases surge in the weeks preceding the Election.

However, the UK Government has made it clear that Local and Police and Crime Commissioner Elections will be taking place on the 6 th May, with a robust delivery plan that minimises the risk of spreading the Coronavirus and the Welsh Government should be putting all its efforts in to ensuring that this also happens for the Senedd Election.

The Welsh Government have failed throughout this Bill’s process to state what the criteria would be to trigger a delay in the election - and have refused to back our proposals at each Stage to include this in the Bill. For these reasons we will be abstaining on this Bill.