The National Assembly for Wales has changed its name to Senedd Cymru - the Welsh Parliament.from today, and whilst many would think that at a time of national crisis we would have more to concentrate on, but the plans were made well before we faced a lockdown and over a thousands deaths in Wales. Plans to rename the assembly - fixed to 6 May 2020 - entered the statute books months before the coronavirus emergency.
The Senedd's figurehead, Presiding Officer Elin Jones, said the new name reflected powers and responsibilities the institution has gained.
It comes after 21 years of devolution that have seen law-making and taxation powers handed from London to Cardiff.
The names of the politicians will also change - from Assembly Members (AMs) to Members of the Senedd (MSs).
From the start of devolution under Tony Blair there was disquiet that Wales was being given second or even third division status reflected in that When initially established under the Government of Wales Act 1998, Section 53(1), the post now occupied by Mark Drakeford was known as Assembly First Secretary (in Welsh Prif Ysgrifennydd y Cynulliad), as Wales was given a less powerful assembly and executive than either Northern Ireland or Scotland. The choice of title was also attributed to the fact that the Welsh term for First Minister, Prif Weinidog, may also be translated as Prime Minister, so a different title was chosen to avoid confusion with the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. The change of title occurred after the Liberal Democrats formed a coalition government with Labour in the Welsh Assembly in October 2000. The Government of Wales Act 2006 allowed for the post to be officially known as the First Minister and also made the First Minister Keeper of the Welsh Seal.
IT is a long time since the referendum in Wales and Scotland gave the latter what Billy Connolly dismissed as our "pretendy wee Parliament", but as recent events have shown isn't as pretendy as some, including Tony Blair, might have intended.
For all its faults, I doubt there are many who'd want to go back to London rule.
Indeed I suspect that many in England envy Scotland with its First Minister guiding her Parliament and the Scottish Nation wirth confidence and authority , throughout the current crisis.Not so here in Wales where the Labour goverment , seems to be under the thumb of Westminster and its Cabinet that have shafted us over PPE and seem to think we should blindly follow their lead, disastrous as it has proven with the UK having the highest death rate in Europe.
It has increasing the divide between Unionists and Independistas and it will be interesting to see how a post virus examination of way both Governments handled the crisis will affect Welsh Politics in the run up to next years Senedd Elections.
It will be interesting to se how the Abolish the Assembly work out to rename themselves now they can't rely on alliteration in their name . Will Abolish Senedd Cymru - the Welsh Parliament.have the same ring ?
After the first Assembly Elections the Wasting Mule, had a headline.
"Now Prove You Are Relevant"
It will be one of the first jobs of the next Senedd to not only do that but to make sure that the People of Wales look on it in the same way Scots regard the Parliament in Holyrood.
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