David Chadwick has questioned whether a new way of electing Senedd Members could “undermine the spirit of democracy.”

The Brecon, Radnor and Cwm Tawe MP raised the issue during a Commons debate on the 185th anniversary of the Chartist uprising in Newport.

He thanked Newport East MP, Jessica Morden, for introducing the debate so that MPs could pay tribute to the role that Wales has played in forming our democracy over the years.

But Mr Chadwick asked: “Is she not concerned that the proposed new system for elections in Wales, whereby one vote will return six Senedd Members, threatens to undermine the spirit of democracy as the Chartists understood it?”

Ms Morden said she was sure it does not.

She told Mr Chadwick: “I will not be drawn into talking about the Welsh elections in tonight’s debate, but it is a system that has been devised by the Welsh Senedd and voted on.

“I am sure that it is one in which people will be able to participate fully when the elections come in 2026.”

Ms Morden said the Chartist uprising of 1839 was a night on which thousands of working people from across the valleys marched on the Westgate Hotel in her constituency in the fight for the vote and the right of ordinary people to have their voices heard.