Article by Steve Boyce, National Assembly for Wales Research Service
The full membership of the Welsh Affairs Select Committee of the House of Commons has been announced. The new Committee has six Conservative members, three Labour members, and one member each from Plaid Cymru and the Liberal Democrats.
Membership is intended to broadly reflect the representation of the parties in Parliament.
The Committee has changed significantly since the last parliament with only two members of the 2010-15 Committee remaining: the Chair, David TC Davies (Conservative) and Mark Williams (Liberal Democrat). Two of the new Conservative members will be familiar to those with an interest in the work of the Welsh Assembly: Byron Davies and Antoinette Sandbach, both of whom were Assembly Members prior to the General Election.
The system for determining who chairs Select Committees changed with the introduction of elections in 2010. Committee Chairs are elected by the House of Commons chamber and Committee members are subsequently elected inside their party groups. David TC Davies MP was re-elected to Chair of the Welsh Affairs Committee unopposed on 17 June.
The members of the new Welsh Affairs Committee are:
David T. C. Davies (Chair),Conservative, Monmouth
Byron Davies, Conservative, Gower
Chris Davies, Conservative, Brecon and Radnorshire
Dr James Davies, Conservative, Vale of Clwyd
Carolyn Harris, Labour, Swansea East
Gerald Jones, Labour, Merthyr Tydfil and Rhymney
Christina Rees, Labour, Neath
Antoinette Sandbach, Conservative, Eddisbury
Liz Saville Roberts, Plaid Cymru, Dwyfor Meirionnydd
Craig Williams, Conservative, Cardiff North
Mark Williams, Liberal Democrat, Ceredigion