9. Debate seeking the Assembly's agreement to introduce a Commission-proposed Bill — The Welsh Parliament and Elections (Wales) Bill

Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 4:25 pm on 10 October 2018.

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Photo of Lee Waters Lee Waters Labour 4:25, 10 October 2018

Well, there's nothing wrong with people informally saying that the Senedd is our Welsh Parliament, but I think the official name should be Senedd. In terms of the general public's understanding, we're still not quite 20 years into the being of this place; I think understanding will develop as time goes on. 

As I say, there are other reasons for choosing the term 'Senedd', not least the final point I want to turn to, which is what we refer to ourselves as. By creating the problem for ourselves of calling it a Welsh Parliament, we then come up with this ridiculous acronym for Member of Welsh Parliament—MWP. Now, I think we're inviting ridicule for ourselves by describing ourselves as 'MWP'. My infantile mind immediately thinks of what it rhymes with—'twp' and 'pwp'. This may well reflect what some of our constituents think of us, but I don't think we should give them any encouragement. I think it's a slightly absurd set of initials, which, if we weren't calling ourselves Welsh Parliament, we wouldn't create the problem of in the first place.

I think AS, Aelod Seneddol, would be perfectly straightforward. There may be an issue for Welsh language broadcasters then to distinguish between MPs, who we refer to in Welsh as AS, and us. But, frankly, it's not beyond the wit of man to come up with a solution to that—[Interruption.] Or woman, indeed; I was using it in the original sense. But, frankly, that's their problem, not our problem. But I believe sending the signal that we are Members of our Senedd would be the right signal to send. Diolch.