Member News
The wording of the proposed question for next year's referendum on further Welsh Assembly powers should be redrafted to be more intelligible, according to the Electoral Commission.
The election watchdog delivered its verdict on the proposed questions for the referendum on further powers for the Welsh Assembly.
It found the wording put forward by the Wales Office lacked clarity and was difficult to understand and in some cases was "ambiguous".
The original proposed question was: "At present, the National Assembly for Wales (the assembly) has powers to make laws for Wales on some subjects within devolved areas. Devolved areas include health, education, social services, local government and environment. The assembly can gain further powers to make laws in devolved areas with the agreement of the Parliament of the United Kingdom (Parliament) on a subject by subject basis.
"If most people vote Yes in this referendum, the assembly will gain powers to pass laws on all subjects in the devolved areas. "If most people vote No, then the present arrangements, which transfer that law-making power bit by bit, with the agreement of Parliament each time, will continue. "Do you agree that the assembly should now have powers to pass laws on all subjects in the devolved areas without needing the agreement of Parliament first?"
The report said: "Background awareness of the referendum is low, so people relied on the introduction for an explanation."
The commission had spent the past ten weeks "road-testing" the Wales Office's suggested question with members of the public.
It carried out research to find out how well the question could be understood by voters, and used the findings to suggest improvements to the question.
The term "devolved areas" proved problematic, with people unable to recognise it and many struggled to understand it at all.
Some people had mistaken ideas of what the referendum was about, or even what a referendum is.
It is the watchdog's responsibility to ensure that any question asked in a referendum is both accurate and intelligible to voters.
Once the question has been formally agreed, only then can legal moves be set in place to start to call the referendum vote.
Welsh secretary Cheryl Gillan has welcomed the commission's report and their comments on the question and preceding statement.
"It is a thorough report and an important part of the process in ensuring people understand what they are being asked to vote on," she said.
"I will discuss the report with the first minister [Carwyn Jones] next Monday and will work with him to consider the commission's suggestions and how we best proceed to ensure the question set out in the referendum order is clear and concise.
"This will allow us to hold the referendum by the end of March 2011 as intended."
Electoral Commissioner for Wales, Ian Kelsall said: "We hope that our report and proposed redraft will demonstrate that our priority has been a question that voters can understand, so that they know what they are voting for."
The commission has also published today details of spending by political parties and organisations that spent up to £250,000 campaigning in the 2010 UK general election.
Have your say...
Please enter your comments below.