Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 4:14 pm on 13 November 2019.
I move my amendments in this group, which simply aim to change the designation in English of Assembly Members from 'Members of Senedd Cymru' to 'Members of the Welsh Parliament'. This was the aim of the amendments put forward by Alun Davies at Stage 2, which we in the Welsh Conservatives supported. I felt that it was appropriate that we once again put this option before Members at this stage in the legislative cycle. As the Bill stands now, we have the bilingual name 'Senedd Cymru' or 'Welsh Parliament', and I believe that we now need to address the designation to bring that consistency.
Now, referring to the speech that Rhun has just made, which was full of sincere feeling, I think it's a fairly fine judgment, I have to say. I don't as a matter of principle have great views on this, one way or the other, but I think what's convinced our group that we need in the legislation the bilingual form is the consultation to this Bill did produce an emphatic response—over 70 per cent—that by far the clearest option that was favoured was for a bilingual name, and that is why we believe this institution should carry that.
I have no doubt that 'Senedd' will be the Welsh name and the common name in English in all probability; it's certainly the one I've been using for years, frankly. So, I just wonder whether us having this rather tortured debate is awfully helpful, but I do accept that some people feel there is greater symbolism with the legislation just saying so in Welsh. But it's not an argument, I'm afraid, that convinces us. We feel that we should stick to the original position, which was developed at Stage 1 and in scrutiny of this Bill through an extensive consultation exercise.
Now, you're ingenious in introducing this poll. I think one way of getting around this inconvenient fact of what the consultation so clearly found is then to try and find some alternative evidence. What I would say is that it would have been helpful to have shared that poll with us more generally. I don't doubt your veracity, but opinion polls, as we may well find out during the course of this campaign, are not always what they appear because of the terms in which the questions are put. But in any event, we need to respect the full scrutiny process and what that produced. [Interruption.] I will give way.