THE former MP for Torfaen has called for a change in legislation to only allow people on the Welsh electoral roll to stand for Assembly elections.

Lord Murphy, a former Welsh secretary and now a member of the House of Lords, says he believes that it does not make sense for someone living outside of Wales to pass judgement on Welsh issues.

Lord Murphy, along with fellow former Welsh secretary Peter Hain, also a member of House of Lords, are to debate the issue in the coming weeks.

“It isn’t a party issue as this would affect all members of the Assembly – Labour, Conservatives, Liberal Democrats, Plaid and Ukip or any other person who is standing,” he said.

“It seems to not make sense to me that you can have someone who is deciding what is best for Wales, but then doesn’t actually live there.”

At present, there is nothing to stop any members of the Welsh Assembly, or anyone planning to stand in the Welsh elections, from living outside its borders.

He added that a proposed amendment to the Wales Bill would see a new stipulation included stating that prospective candidates must be registered as living in Wales.

However, Lord Murphy, who was Torfaen’s MP from 1987 until 2015, added that his view is not that politicians should be forced to live in their constituencies.

“This is not to say that the representative must live in the area which they represent – sometimes that is just not possible,” he said.

“I lived in my constituency as does my successor in Torfaen, but I am aware that some members of the Assembly are not even living in Wales.

“It just strikes me as strange as it would be expected that a member of the Assembly would experience the same issues as the population by living in the country,” added Lord Murphy.

The rules set out in the Government of Wales Act were agreed during Lord Hain’s tenure as Welsh Secretary.

“It is not clear exactly when we will be debating this in the House of Lords, but I would imagine that it would be next week or one shortly after that,” said Lord Murphy.

“The item has been tabled for discussion so I guess we’ll see what happens with it.”