A 10 per cent threshold for voters to remove Senedd members from office between elections would be undemocratic, the standards commissioner has warned.

Douglas Bain gave evidence to a standards committee inquiry looking into introducing a system of recall.

He said: “I very much welcome anything that will strengthen the ability of the public to call to account members of the Senedd. I think that should always be welcome.”

But Mr Bain warned that the closed-list electoral system, which will see people voting for parties rather than candidates from 2026, poses major difficulties.

He said: “If a member was recalled, the public would not have a choice of who might be elected, with the automatic election of the next person on the party list.”

He told the committee it would be “quite wrong” to replace a member in this way, without a byelection, “because only 10 per cent of the electorate have said that’s what they want to happen”.

“I wouldn’t regard that as democratic or acceptable,” he said.

“There has to be some sort of mechanism to ensure actually it’s the will of not just 10% of the people that the member should be replaced, but it’s the majority of the people.”