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Government of Wales Bill

In proposing Amendment No. 2, it is necessary for us as a party to state where we are coming from as regards the kind of assembly we wish to see. Our amendment would insert that there should be,"““a Parliament for Wales to be known as the ‘Senedd’””." For a long time we have stuck to important principles. We wish to see created a Welsh parliament with primary law-making powers; we want that parliament to have 80 members; and we want to see it elected by the single transferable vote. If that is the case, it is entirely logical for that body, which would have primary legislative powers, to be called a ““senedd””. Indeed, Her Majesty opened the senedd on 1 March of this year. There was some controversy before that very fine occasion but it was reported in the press that she opened the senedd. We believe that that is the correct way to go ahead and that it should have the name ““senedd””. Amendments Nos. 1 and 3, proposed by the noble Lord, Lord Crickhowell, are eminently sensible. They clarify the situation. There is a need to spell out the obvious: that there is indeed a National Assembly for Wales at present. That is a fact. That is clarified by those amendments. Our proposal in Amendment No. 2 is simple. We wish to see the legislative body called the senedd.