Reform boycotts Senedd after member banned for saying white people being replaced
On Tuesday Martin asked for a Welsh government statement on the “demographic replacement of white British people” during business questions, when Senedd members are free to raise issues they choose.
Business Minister Heledd Fychan immediately asked the presiding officer whether the remarks were within the Senedd’s standing orders – a set of rules that govern conduct in the chamber.
Standing orders give the presiding officer discretion to decide if contributions to plenary sessions – meetings of the full Senedd – use “discriminatory or offensive language”.
Delivering his ruling later, Irranca-Davies said: “Until I receive a clear indication that the member understands the boundaries of acceptable parliamentary conduct and apologises to the Siambr [chamber], we will not be calling him to speak.”
Senedd officials confirmed an apology would have to be made in the chamber during a plenary session.
The ruling does not cover committees.
Martin is a member of the Senedd’s Equality, Human Rights and Social Justice Committee.
Irranca-Davies pointed out it was not the first time he has rebuked Martin. In September, he said Martin had made offensive remarks about surgeons working in the Welsh NHS gender service.
Plaid Cymru Senedd member Carrie Harper called Reform’s boycott a “pathetic tantrum” that was a “disgrace to democracy”.
“They’d rather play gimmicks and chase headlines than be serious about Wales’ future and doing the job they were elected to do on behalf of the people they represent,” she said.
In the 2021 census 93.8% of people in Wales identified as white, down from 95.6% a decade earlier, with the country’s overall population growing by 1.4% to 3,107,500.
The proportion identifying as Asian, Asian Welsh or Asian British, the next highest group in the survey, rose from 2.3% to 2.9%.
Mixed or multiple ethnic groups rose from 1% to 1.6%, and those identifying as Black, Black Welsh, Black British, Caribbean or African rose from 0.6% to 0.9%.
