7. Debate on the General Principles of the Senedd and Elections (Wales) Bill

Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 4:38 pm on 10 July 2019.

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Photo of Mick Antoniw Mick Antoniw Labour 4:38, 10 July 2019

Thank you, Deputy Presiding Officer. This is a major piece of Welsh constitutional legislation, and it was given very careful and serious attention by the committee, as would be expected. The Constitutional and Legislative Affairs Committee scrutinised the Bill between February and June of this year. We undertook a public consultation and we heard oral evidence in formal meetings. We also sought the views of young people about votes at 16, using an online forum, Senedd Dialogue, and during a visit to Ysgol Gyfun Gymraeg Bro Edern in Cardiff, and we'd like to thank all of those who contributed to that work and to the various evidence sessions that were involved.

We made 19 recommendations in our report, aimed mainly at improving the legislation and delivering it effectively with a focus on good legislative practice. Whilst we had some reservations about the approach to legislating adopted in bringing the Bill forward, we nevertheless recommended that its general principles do be agreed.

So, turning to Part 2 of the Bill and the proposals to rename the National Assembly as the 'Senedd', we heard evidence making the case for the monolingual name 'Senedd' or 'Senedd Cymru' or the bilingual name of 'Senedd Cymru' and 'Welsh Parliament'. However, we deliberately did not express a view on a preferred name, as we believe that the choice of name must be a decision that is taken by the National Assembly as a whole, and what I do do is draw the Members' attention to the evidence we have heard on this, which has been set out within our report.