5. Statement by the Llywydd: Introduction of a Commission-proposed Bill — Senedd and Elections (Wales) Bill

Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 3:38 pm on 13 February 2019.

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Photo of David Melding David Melding Conservative 3:38, 13 February 2019

We welcome the introduction of this Bill. It is an important recognition of the status of the Senedd as a legislature, as the Counsel General also indicated. So, it's an important landmark. And I think that those of us who have served—as you have, in the Chair at the moment, Deputy Presiding Officer—since 1999, it's almost like we've been in this huge constitutional convention, when we started off with, I think, what someone famously called 'Glamorgan County Council on stilts', and then we moved to separate powers, got this legislative competence Order process of legislating primary legislation on sufferance from Westminster, finally to a proper legislature. It has been, sort of, how to get from Cardiff to Newport via Wrexham, but we did it.

I also support the intention to create a more effective and accessible legislature. I think that's the right aim, and we do need that sort of clarity and purpose in our constitutional thinking and law making.