English: I have to say that I think this is quite an ambitious Bill, and there are aspects of it that I do very much favour. I would have enjoyed the prospect of trying to work genuinely in the fullness of legislative time with proper consultation - we heard John Griffiths say that many stakeholders just couldn't engage in the timescale that was given. But, I think there's a really good, important local government Bill to be had here, and that this is really the tragedy of the fact that we are not going to see fully coherent proposals come through in a well-worked Bill that probably would have had cross-party support, which should be the aim of constitutional changes. I very much support the franchise being extended to 16 and 17-year-olds. With apologies to my colleagues, I think local councils should be able to decide what their electoral system is, as long as they get support for that change amongst their electorate. I don't think that 22 systems, which is one choice or the other, first past the post or STV, would exercise our electorate particularly. They would just get used to wherever they were having that particular form of local elections. If we believe in local democracy, why not extend that principle to them to decide on how they are represented and how they constitute their councils? I don't agree with extending council terms from four to five years. Our change in the Assembly to go from four to five years has not been successful, in my view, and I think a four-year term has a lot to recommend it at all levels of government. There's much to be said about the general power of competence; the public participation strategy is something that would drag us into the modern age. Corporate joint committees between councils, I think that extends: we've seen how effectively city regions are working at the moment. There's a lot to be said for performance in governance reforms, and then allowing local mergers where councils want to do that. There is good material here, but we have to face the difficulty that this Bill now requires very extensive committee stage work to look at the amendments. Those amendments are very comprehensive and will have to be crafted by the political groups in co-operation with the Assembly's lawyers. These are extensive meetings. This is serious law, probably one of the most important Bills in this Assembly term. It's unfortunate the Government has been overtaken by a crisis they couldn't have anticipated, and I accept the challenges that has brought. But your timetabling was your decision, and to place major reform very late in the electoral cycle is always inviting trouble. I made this point when we discussed the Senedd Bill, around using two Bills to reduce the voting age. Also, I think some major things do need to be very well considered when we extend the franchise to people who are not citizens. That is clearly a huge principle that needs a lot of thought and examination, and similarly with the issue of prisoners, if that is brought forward. Again, I don't completely agree with the very hostile view that no prisoners should receive the franchise. I think for lesser crimes - . We do imprison an awful lot of people in Britain, and have done so since the 1980s when we had roughly 40,000 prisoners, now we have about 90,000, many serving short sentences, and I think we have to be aware of the international organisations and treaties that we have signed, and some of the policy changes we might have to make are a consequence of international law, or decisions in international law, going against us. So, I don't condemn the Welsh Government for looking at that, because it's something that the UK Government has had to do as well. But it's still not elegant to bring in such a reform at Stage 2 and not have it fully consulted on. So, I really think it would be an act of grace on the Government's part now to accept that, in the situation we find ourselves, which is not the fault of the Welsh Government, it is just not possible to give this Bill the extensive legislative scrutiny that it requires, and it's better to decide to postpone something than to rush something through that would not get cross-party support and may have serious deficiencies because of the unintended consequences. Thank you very much, Llywydd.
Welsh: Mae'n rhaid i mi ddweud fy mod yn credu bod hwn yn Fil eithaf uchelgeisiol, ac mae agweddau arno yr wyf yn eu ffafrio'n fawr. Byddwn wedi mwynhau'r cyfle i geisio gweithio mewn gwirionedd yng nghyflawnder y cyfnod deddfwriaethol gan ymgynghori'n briodol - clywsom John Griffiths yn dweud na allai llawer o randdeiliaid ymwneud ag ef yn briodol yn yr amser a roddwyd. Ond, rwy'n credu bod yna Fil llywodraeth leol pwysig iawn yn y fan yma, a dyma yw'r gwir drasiedi, y ffaith nad ydym yn mynd i weld cynigion cwbl gydlynol yn cael eu cyflwyno mewn Bil wedi ei lunio'n dda a fyddai, mae'n debyg, wedi cael cefnogaeth drawsbleidiol, a ddylai fod yn nod newidiadau cyfansoddiadol. Rwy'n cefnogi'n frwd ymestyn yr etholfraint i bobl ifanc 16 ac 17 oed. Gan ymddiheuro i'm cyd-Aelodau, credaf y dylai cynghorau lleol benderfynu beth yw eu system etholiadol, ar yr amod bod cefnogaeth i'r newid hwnnw ymhlith eu hetholwyr. Nid wyf yn credu y byddai 22 o systemau, sydd ag un dewis neu'r llall, y cyntaf i'r felin neu bleidlais sengl drosglwyddadwy, yn trethu ein hetholwyr yn arbennig. Bydden nhw'n dod i arfer â'r math arbennig hwnnw o etholiadau lleol. Os ydym yn credu mewn democratiaeth leol, beth am estyn yr egwyddor honno iddyn nhw er mwyn iddyn nhw benderfynu ar sut y cânt eu cynrychioli a sut y maen nhw'n ffurfio eu cynghorau? Dydw i ddim yn cytuno ag ymestyn tymhorau cyngor o bedair i bum mlynedd. Ni fu ein newid ni yn y Cynulliad o bedair i bum mlynedd yn llwyddiannus, yn fy marn i, a chredaf y gellir argymell tymor o bedair blynedd ar bob haen o lywodraeth. Mae llawer i'w ddweud o blaid y pŵer cymhwysedd cyffredinol; byddai'r strategaeth o gael cyfranogiad y cyhoedd yn rhywbeth a fyddai'n ein llusgo i'r oes fodern. Cyd-bwyllgorau corfforaethol rhwng cynghorau, rwy'n credu bod hynny'n ymestyn: rydym ni wedi gweld pa mor effeithiol y mae dinas-ranbarthau yn gweithio ar hyn o bryd. Mae llawer i'w ddweud o blaid perfformiad mewn diwygiadau llywodraethu, ac yna caniatáu uno lleol lle mae cynghorau eisiau gwneud hynny. Ceir deunydd da yma, ond rhaid inni wynebu'r anhawster fod y Bil hwn bellach angen gwaith helaeth iawn yn y cam pwyllgor i edrych ar y gwelliannau. Mae'r diwygiadau hynny'n gynhwysfawr iawn a bydd yn rhaid iddyn nhw gael eu saernïo gan y grwpiau gwleidyddol mewn cydweithrediad â chyfreithwyr y Cynulliad. Mae'r rhain yn gyfarfodydd sylweddol. Mae hon yn gyfraith ddifrifol, yn ôl pob tebyg yn un o'r biliau pwysicaf yn y tymor Cynulliad hwn. Mae'n anffodus bod y Llywodraeth wedi cael ei dal gan argyfwng na allai hi fod wedi'i ragweld, ac rwy'n derbyn yr heriau sydd wedi dod yn ei sgil. Ond eich penderfyniad chi oedd eich amserlen chi, ac mae cyflwyno diwygiadau mawr yn hwyr iawn yn y cylch etholiadol bob amser yn gofyn am helynt. Gwneuthum y pwynt hwn pan wnaethom ni drafod Bil y Senedd, ynghylch ddefnyddio dau Fil i ostwng yr oedran pleidleisio. Hefyd, rwy'n credu bod angen ystyried rhai pethau mawr yn ofalus iawn pan fyddwn yn ymestyn yr etholfraint i bobl nad ydyn nhw'n ddinasyddion. Mae honno'n amlwg yn egwyddor enfawr y mae angen llawer o feddwl ac archwilio arni, ac yn yr un modd gyda mater y carcharorion, os caiff hwnnw ei gyflwyno. Unwaith eto, dydw i ddim yn cytuno'n llwyr â'r farn elyniaethus iawn na ddylid rhoi'r etholfraint i unrhyw garcharor. Rwy'n credu o ran troseddau llai - . Rydym yn carcharu llawer iawn o bobl ym Mhrydain, ac wedi gwneud hynny ers y 1980au pan oedd gennym ni tua 40,000 o garcharorion, erbyn hyn mae gennym ni tua 90,000, llawer ohonyn nhw'n wedi cael dedfrydau byr, a chredaf fod yn rhaid inni fod yn ymwybodol o'r cyrff rhyngwladol a'r cytundebau yr ydym wedi'u llofnodi, a rhai o'r newidiadau polisi y bydd yn rhaid inni efallai eu gwneud o ganlyniad i gyfraith ryngwladol, neu benderfyniadau mewn cyfraith ryngwladol, yn milwrio yn ein herbyn. Felly, dydw i ddim yn condemnio Llywodraeth Cymru am ystyried hynny, gan ei fod yn rhywbeth y mae Llywodraeth y DU wedi gorfod ei wneud hefyd. Er hynny nid yw'n briodol iawn i gyflwyno'r fath ddiwygiad yng Nghyfnod 2 a heb ymgynghori'n llawn yn ei gylch. Felly, rwy'n credu o ddifrif y byddai'r Llywodraeth yn gwneud cymwynas fawr drwy dderbyn, yn y sefyllfa yr ydym ni ynddi, nad yw'n fai ar Lywodraeth Cymru, nad yw'n bosib gwneud y gwaith craffu deddfwriaethol helaeth sydd ei angen ar y Bil hwn, ac mae'n well penderfynu gohirio rhywbeth na rhuthro rhywbeth na fyddai'n cael cefnogaeth drawsbleidiol ac a allai fod â diffygion difrifol oherwydd y canlyniadau anfwriadol. Diolch yn fawr iawn, Llywydd.