Electoral Commission says "confusing" Welsh referendum question should be redrafted

The proposed question for a referendum on devolving more law-making powers to the National Assembly for Wales is too confusing and should be redrafted so that voters can understand it, the Electoral Commission said this week.

Providing its own suggested version, the Commission admitted that drafting was “not easy” and acknowledged that one of the main challenges for the drafters was complexity.

In a report, the Commission said: “The referendum is about a constitutional process that is unfamiliar to most people. Many people are unaware of the referendum, what it is about, or even what a referendum is.”

The Commission’s review involved research with voters, advice from accessibility and plain language specialists and comment from campaigners, politicians and other interested people.

Its research found that a majority of respondents felt the basic structure of the question should be kept. However, it also found that:

• The question does not explain clearly what happens now, what could happen in the future and the differences between them
• The language is not clear and simple
• Official-sounding terminology was not familiar or easily understood
• Some people had mistaken ideas of what the referendum was about
• Even some people who already had some knowledge of what the referendum was about became confused after reading the question.

Ian Kelsall, Electoral Commissioner for Wales, said: "The subject of the referendum is a challenging one to communicate, and drafting a question is far from an easy matter. We are therefore grateful to the Secretary of State for Wales for giving us the full ten weeks we needed to assess the question, ensuring we were able to talk to voters across the country and to hear their opinions.

"It is important that some key words, phrases and terminology are redrafted if the question is to be understood by the voters, thus ensuring full participation in the referendum. 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 Secretary of State for Wales, Cheryl Gillan, will be responsible for deciding the final wording.