Plaid wants Welsh assembly name change to 'parliament'

Plaid Cymru hopes to force a vote which would see the Welsh assembly renamed the Welsh parliament.

The party has tabled an amendment to the Wales Bill currently making its way through the House of Commons.

The idea is unlikely to gain UK government support, although Welsh Conservative leader Andrew RT Davies has backed the idea in the past.

The amendment said the assembly should be "renamed the National Parliament of Wales, or Senedd Cenedlaethol Cymru".

Plaid Cymru's Westminster leader Elfyn Llwyd, MP for Dwyfor Meirionnydd, said: "This amendment, if passed, would enforce a simple change - that the assembly be officially named the National Parliament of Wales.

"The Wales Bill already makes provision for officially changing the name of the Welsh Assembly Government to the Welsh government.

"It is only right and proper that the institution's name also reflects its status as a full law-making body, as it has been since the 2011 referendum on further powers.

"The leaders of other parties in Wales have already spoken in favour of this change. We hope that our straightforward and common sense amendment attracts them and their parties' support."