National Assembly will be renamed Welsh Parliament
WALES’ National Assembly will change its name to Welsh Parliament/ Senedd Cymru in 2020.
The body that runs the National Assembly, the Assembly Commission, also wants to lowering the minimum voting age to 16 in Assembly elections. At a later date, it will look at whether to increase the size of the Assembly and change the voting system.
The Commission’s decisions have been announced alongside the publication of a summary of the key findings of the Commission’s public consultation, Creating a Parliament for Wales.
That asked people their thoughts on proposals, including the recommendations made by an expert panel, chaired by Laura McAllister CBE. It made its recommended in December 2017.
More than 3,200 consultation responses were received and people did not have to answer every question.
On the question of voting age, of the 1,530 who responded to the voting age question, 59% agreed it should be lowered to 16 years old.
Llywydd Elin Jones AM said: “Empowering young people to vote at 16 is a powerful statement from the Assembly that we value their views. Votes at 16 will have to be accompanied by appropriate political and citizenship education and public awareness-raising to ensure young people are encouraged and supported to exercise their right to vote. We will work with the Welsh Government and other partners, including our own Youth Parliament to support this need.”
The Commission intends to legislate to change the minimum voting age in time for the next election in 2021.
On the number of AMs, the Expert Panel recommended increasing the number to between 80 and 90.
The panel said they did not believe that the current 60 AMs give the Assembly the “capacity it needs to fulfil its responsibilities, now and in the future”.
In the public consultation, 56% said there should be more Assembly Members and 9.5% put the ideal number AT between 80 and 90 AMs.
Ms Jones said: “With the everincreasing pressure and additional responsibilities of this parliament, it is my view that we need to take action as soon as possible. The only alternative is to accept that our Welsh parliament will face almost another decade of being underpowered. As the Chair of the Expert Panel concludes in the report, the Assembly cannot continue as it is without risking its ability to deliver for the people and communities it serves. We now have the opportunity to make our parliament a more effective, accessible and diverse legislature; to forge the national parliament that the people of Wales deserve to champion their interests and hold the Welsh Government to account.”
On job sharing, the Expert Panel also recommended letting people stand for election on the basis of job sharing, something publicly backed by AMs including Sian Gwenllian. But the majority of responses in the public consultation were against this suggestion, with 52% of those who responded saying no. The Commission agreed.
A statement said: “Whilst accepting there are a number of factors which make this an attractive idea, there is insufficient support for this proposal at the moment..”
And on the current voting system, the Expert Panel recommended a single transferable vote system, rather than the current system where voters have two votes, one for a constituency member and the other via a form of proportional representation known as the Additional Member System.
They said in their report it would “maximise voter choice and providing simplicity for voters, should local authorities in Wales adopt STV”.
In the consultation, 54% favoured the Single Transferable Vote system of electing Members.
The voting system will be considered in the second phase.
A statement said: “The second phase will focus on the question of the increase in size of the Assembly and the related decision on which voting system should be used to elect Assembly Members. The Commission has committed to allowing more time for discussions with political parties to take place over the coming months on these matters. These discussions will allow a decision to be taken as to whether the Commission will be able to legislate on these matters before 2021.”