(Title Image: Wales Online)
Standards Committee
Complaint against Vikki Howells MS (Lab, Cynon Valley) in her capacity as Labour parliamentary group chair
Complaints made by: Neil McEvoy MS (Ind, South Wales Central)
Published: 30th September 2020 (pdf)
The complaint revolves around the use of Senedd resources for party political purposes.
Labour Senedd group 2019 UK election briefing breached guidelines
Rules state that the Senedd’s buildings and resources shouldn’t be used by MSs for party political purposes. This is defined as including meetings “primarily or substantially” about personal or business promotion, promotion of a political party (i.e. fundraising, recruitment) or any form of campaigning for election or re-election.
In the build-up to the 2019 UK election, the Senedd Commission issued stricter guidelines on the use of meeting rooms, including a blanket ban on meetings about the election.
On 12th November 2019, the Labour Senedd group received a briefing on the election from the General Secretary of Labour in Wales, Louise McGee, which the Acting Standards Commissioner, Douglas Bain, believes lasted for up to 10 minutes.
Minutes of that meeting made their way anonymously to Neil McEvoy MS, who subsequently made five complaints, only one of which was upheld.
Support for a review of the guidance
There was no attempt by Vikki Howells MS – as Chair of the Labour Senedd group – to prevent Louise McGee from making the briefing because the meeting itself wasn’t “primarily or substantially about the election”.
The Acting Standards Commissioner states there was no distinction made in the guidance between the use of rooms during the election period and at all other times. However, having sought out further advice it was clear that all meetings relating to the election – no matter how short – were effectively banned.
He commented that: “It’s almost inconceivable that at any party meeting during an election period there will not be some discussion of the forthcoming election.” So while there was a breach of the rules on the use of Senedd resources, “it was not surprising”.
The Standards Committee agreed there had been a breach of Rule 10 of the Members Code of Conduct which states that: “Members are required to comply with the ‘Rules and Guidance on the Use of Senedd Resources’ and any guidance on the use of Senedd resources specifically relating to an election campaign.” The Committee concluded that as the breach was “inadvertent” there was no need for further action to be taken.
They also concluded that a blanket ban on discussing elections during party political meetings would be “unrealistic” and supported the “primarily or substantially” provision from the main rules to be extended to include election periods too.
