Mercia: First Minister Ó Cathail’s Election Victory Speech

Gentlemen, good afternoon. It is an honour to be re-elected as First Minister with another majority NLP government. However, this renewal of our mandate leaves us with much responsibility to carry out what we were elected to do. Over the last term my government showed what the NLP stood for, and what we were capable of doing. In this term, I will put before Parliament a comprehensive agenda which could dramatically alter Mercia. In this term of government I want to focus heavily on political reform, while keeping in mind our party’s principles of maintaining our unique traditions of government.

Thus the first two bills which I will present to Parliament over the course of the month will be a Parliamentary Powers Bill and an Electoral Reform Bill. The former will transfer more powers from the Lords to the elected parliament, reinforcing our democratic tradition while maintaining the important executive role of the Lords. The latter bill will reform the electoral practises of Mercia, by abolishing proxy declarations of candidature (meaning all candidates will have to declare in person rather than through another person) as well as establishing fixed terms of government after which a government will have no mandate. This will mean the Lords will no longer be necessary to dissolve Parliament. In addition Parliament will examine any deficiencies found during the past election and correct them through said bill, for example finding ways to prevent candidates being elected with no votes.

The third bill will be a Wurtige Referendum Bill, where the Mercian people will vote on our status in the Wurtige Empire. This was our main campaign pledge, and we will act on it as soon as we can so we can carry out the referendum within this term. The specifics of this will be debated in Parliament at our earliest convenience.

Our plans are not limited to legislative agendas, however. We will also ensure past bills are fully implemented, in particular ones relating to our civil service. My cabinet will appoint brehons to head the Gorsedhs of our civil service. The Gorsedhs will also hire staff where necessary, to ensure their activities are carried out efficiently and fully without delay.

While governments often boast of their achievements while neglecting their failures, I must point out one aspect of the past term I was not satisfied with. My cabinet met irregularly, and when it did, did so informally. This impeded the ability of some ministers to carry out their role fully. In this term I will ensure my entire cabinet meets regularly and in a formal manner with a clear agenda, so my government will be able to cohesively implement its agenda.

My cabinet will present many more ideas, draft bills and projects over the course of this term. There are other bills of lesser importance that I wish to have put before parliament during this term, for example a bill to formally create the role of deputy first minister should I be absent temporarily, as I was for two weeks in the last term. Indeed, should I ever be incapacitated, the deputy first minister would immediately assume the role of first minister, thus preventing a power vacuum.

I look forward to working closely with all members of parliament, government and opposition. I strongly believe that a parliament truly representative of the views of the Mercian people should work together on policies we can form collectively rather than emphasising the differences that exist between us. I successfully achieved this with the majority of bills in the last parliament, and without a doubt consensus, not division, will be a policy I will continue in this term.

Once again, I look forward to working closely with all sides in the weeks ahead. I want to thank the Mercian electorate for renewing my mandate, it is an honour to serve them. Thank you all.

Long live Mercia!