Can I say I very much welcome this Bill and welcome the terms in which it has been drafted? I'm absolutely looking forward, after spending the best part of my life debating and discussing devolution, to see this exemplar of constitutional reform take place. The Counsel General is very ambitious in his vision in responding on behalf of the Government. I noticed, looking through some boxes at home, that when I was in my early 20s, I was campaigning for a 'senate' in Cardiff. NUS Wales, which I was then, somehow, elected to lead, had consented to me running this campaign. We chose the term 'senate' because it sounded like 'senedd' and because it was understandable to all—now this is going back to the 1980s—and I do believe that what we call ourselves is important, as it happens. I don't believe it's a technical or academic exercise, and I don't believe it's an exercise in either vanity or self-regard. I believe it's fundamental to this place and what it seeks to be. It was Arthur Henderson, of course, as general secretary of the Labour Party in 1918, who said that Wales could become a utopia with self-government. Now, I'm sure he was quoted by others in doing so, here today. But at that time, of course, there was a determination—a real determination—in different parts of the then UK Parliament, to create home rule all round, and I believe that that is the right and proper constitutional framework in which we should take these matters forward, where Wales and Scotland have Parliaments able to determine the domestic arrangements for those countries within the framework of the United Kingdom. And I hope that at some point during this exemplar exercise in constitutional reform we will look at the issues that affect our colleagues, friends and neighbours in England as well. But that's beyond the scope of this statement this afternoon.

I have little concern over whether we call ourselves 'Senedd' or 'Parliament'. To me, I use both and my constituents use both. I'm happy to be an 'Aelod Seneddol', and I am equally happy to be a 'Member of the Welsh Parliament'. What matters to me is the powers that we have and how we exercise those powers. I said earlier in my remarks that I was looking back to my early 20s—well, I celebrated my fifty-fifth birthday yesterday. [Interruption.] Thank you very much. I know that many of my constituents are looking forward to my retirement. [Laughter.] I hope that we will be able to do so with adequate settlement and adequate powers. We've already discussed this afternoon that in order to build a railway station in Abertillery we need to go cap in hand to a Tory Government. Surely that can't be right. We need a settlement to enable us to do that and to address properly the issues of mental health in Cardiff prison. As we've heard this afternoon, we're unable to do that as well. So, for me, the powers of this place are always what has driven me, and our ability to effect change on behalf of the people that we represent.

I'm interested in the example of the Dáil in Ireland, and I think it does give a very real example to how bilingualism—as David Melding quite rightly pointed out—can mean more than simply using two names in every instance. As a Welsh speaker, quite often, I'm told that bilingualism is me speaking English, and I think every so often we do need to ensure that we do have terms in our everyday language and in our national life that reflect the importance of our national language as well. But it is something I hope we will be able to reflect upon.

But the point I'd like to make this afternoon is that I hope that this will be a beginning of a more substantial reform as well. To be effective—in the Llywydd's words—we do need to have more Members here. To be effective, we also have to represent people in all parts of the country equally and, for me, that means a proportional system, and I would prefer the STV system of electing us, which I believe would provide a single method of election for all people here, rather than the two-tier system we have at present, which I think fails everybody. So, I don't believe that this should be the end of a process, but should be the beginning of a process, and look then at how we deliver active citizenship in reality. And, Presiding Officer, I very much enjoyed your introduction to this statement. For me, active citizenship is how we will define our democracy in the future. All of us here, because we are politicians and elected, enjoy the 'stubby little pencil on a piece of string' form of democracy. My children will not recognise that, and our democracy has to be a different democracy in future than the one that we've experienced in the past, and that means an active citizenship, actively involved, not only in the deliberations here, but a Parliament and a Senedd that is able to reach out across the whole of Wales.

So, I do welcome the changes in the franchise. I don't share the concerns that have been outlined elsewhere, and I also hope that we will be able to extend the franchise further to include those who are serving relatively short prison sentences and those who are citizens of other countries but settled in this country, because we do need to be an inclusive Parliament as well as a democratic one.

So, I hope, in welcoming the beginning of this debate, and in welcoming the statement this afternoon, we will look beyond what this Bill says, but we will look towards the sort of Parliament that this wants to be and the sort of country in which we want our Parliament to reach out and to create something for our future generations.