Plans for gender quotas in Welsh parliament scrapped

Published

10 months ago

September 17, 2024

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Plans to introduce gender quotas in the Welsh parliament have been scrapped.

It was originally intended to introduce the quotas for the next Senedd elections in May 2026, but this was delayed to 2030 in July.

But in a written statement on Monday evening, Trefnydd (leader of the house) Jane Hutt confirmed the plans had been shelved.

Concerns had been raised that the proposed legislation could be subject to legal challenge.

A cross-party group of Senedd members said it needed certainty “beyond doubt” that members had the authority to pass the bill.

The plans had been separated from the expansion of the Senedd, which will see the number of parliament members increase by more than 50% from 60 to 96.

A motion to remove the Senedd Cymru (Electoral Candidate Lists) Bill from consideration will be debated and voted on next week.

Later on Tuesday, Eluned Morgan, who became first minister of Wales in August, will answer questions from Senedd members for the first time in her new role.

She is expected to outline her plans for government after spending the summer travelling across Wales as part of a “listening” exercise.

The government said it remained “committed to a gender balanced Senedd” and would instead explore other ways of ensuring gender parity.

“[We] have reflected over the summer and decided the best way we can achieve practical change for the 2026 Senedd election is to address this issue in a different way,” Ms Hutt said.

She added that the bill’s withdrawal did not prevent individual parties from considering “what action they can implement” to select a diverse range of candidates.

The Welsh Conservatives – the largest opposition group in the Senedd – said the decision was “inevitable”.

They said they favoured a selection process “based on merit and by the voters”.

Politics

Jingye and Whitehall officials hold talks over British Steel future

Published

42 mins ago

July 9, 2025

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Jingye and Whitehall officials hold talks over British Steel future

The Chinese owner of British Steel has held fresh talks with government officials in a bid to break the impasse over ministers’ determination not to compensate it for seizing control of the company.

Sky News has learnt that executives from Jingye Group met senior civil servants from the Department for Business and Trade (DBT) late last week to discuss ways to resolve the standoff.

Whitehall sources said the talks had been cordial, but that no meaningful progress had been made towards a resolution.

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Jingye wants the government to agree to pay it hundreds of millions of pounds for taking control of British Steel in April – a move triggered by the Chinese group’s preparations for the permanent closure of its blast furnaces in Scunthorpe.

Such a move would have cost thousands of jobs and ended Britain’s centuries-old ability to produce virgin steel.

Jingye had been in talks for months to seek £1bn in state aid to facilitate the Scunthorpe plant’s transition to greener steelmaking, but was offered just half that sum by ministers.

British Steel has not yet been formally nationalised, although that remains a probable outcome.

Jonathan Reynolds, the business secretary, has previously dismissed the idea of compensating Jingye, saying British Steel’s equity was essentially worthless.

Last month, he met his Chinese counterpart, where the issue of British Steel was discussed between the two governments in person for the first time.

Jingye has hired the leading City law firm Linklaters to explore the recovery of hundreds of millions of pounds it invested in the Scunthorpe-based company before the government seized control of it.

News of last week’s meeting comes as British steelmakers face an anxious wait to learn whether their exports to the US face swingeing tariffs as part of US President Donald Trump’s trade war.

Sky News’s economics and data editor, Ed Conway, revealed this week that the UK would miss a White House-imposed deadline to agree a trade deal on steel and aluminium this week.

Jingye declined to comment, while a spokesman for the Department for Business and Trade said: “We acted quickly to ensure the continued operations of the blast furnaces but recognise that securing British Steel’s long-term future requires private sector investment.

“We have not nationalised British Steel and are working closely with Jingye on options for the future, and we will continue work on determining the best long-term sustainable future for the site.”