Assembly Members in Wales get new title as seat of government changes name

Assembly Members (AM) will become Members of the Senedd (MS) from today, when the seat of Government formally changes its name.

The National Assembly became the Senedd Cymru (Welsh Parliament) from close of business yesterday.

It’s one of a raft of changes in the Senedd and Elections Wales Act 2020, including allowing 16 and 17 year olds to vote in Senedd elections in 2021. “Eligible foreign nationals” will also have a vote in those elections.

A similar bill which would give electors of the same age the right to vote in local authority elections is also progressing through the bill stages.

Controversial plans to allow prisoners to vote in Senedd elections was dropped by Welsh Government last month because of the coronavirus pandemic.

Despite the bi-lingual element of Welsh Parliament added to its official title, it will be known commonly as the Senedd in both languages.

The change in voting ages is the most sweeping change to democracy in Wales since the Representation of the People Act 1969, when the minimum voting age was lowered from 21 to 18 years old.

Fittingly the first Welsh Government minister to address the nation on the historic day will be finance and trefnydd (leader of the Senedd) Rebecca Evans.

She will hold the daily coronavirus ministerial briefing from Cardiff at 12.30pm.

By Jez Hemming – Local Democracy Reporter