Electoral Administration Bill

I thank my hon. Friend for making that point, which I shall address in a moment. The allowance includes six words in Welsh and six words in English. My compatriots have a reputation for being verbose and using three words where one word will do in English, and the extra space recognises the reality and the normality in Wales of bilingualism. Again, I am not speaking only on behalf of my party. In Welsh, my party’s title is Plaid Cymru, and in English it is the party of Wales, which makes six words, so we do not require 12 words. The Conservative party is Y Blaid Geidwadol, which again makes six words. However, the Wales Labour party is Y Blaid Lafur Gymreig, which makes eight words, and the Liberal Democrat party is Y Blaid Ryddfrydol Democrataidd. The Bill will allow those two parties to print their full titles in both Welsh and English, which is welcome. My hon. Friend the Member for Na h-Eileanan an Iar (Mr. MacNeil) has referred to the situation in Scotland, which the Bill does not specifically address. The legal status of Scots Gaelic requires an amendment to the Bill, and perhaps we will table such an amendment later in the parliamentary process. I would not dare to speak for Ulster Members, but the recent welcome encouragement for Ulster Scots might call for the extension of the facility to the north of Ireland. Although that point has a particular local character, it is serious. I regret the fact that the good practice on bilingualism in Wales is not replicated elsewhere in the Bill. The Bill contains provisions relating to languages other than English, but perhaps the Government will consider that particular point on the descriptions. I want to make one more point about language, which concerns the term Annibynwr, or independent. I have no truck with political correctness, but there are people who would contend that Annibynwr is gender specific. It means ““the independent man”” rather than ““the independent person””—Annibynwraig refers to an independent woman. The situation could be easily resolved by the use of the adjectival form Annibynniol, which avoids the gender issue, and I commend that construction to the Government. In Wales, Annibynwr is likely to be associated in the public mind not with an independent member of a council, or, for that matter, an independent Member of the House of Commons, but with a member of the Union of Welsh Independents. In my part of Wales, the Presbyterian Church of Wales predominates—I am a Calvinistic Methodist—and in more sectarian times the term Annibynwr had a more unkind usage. As a child, I remember reciting:"““Methodistiaid eistedd lawr""Annibynwyr ar y llawr””." Freely translated, it means that the Methodists have the pews and the independents have to sit on the floor, to which the independents would sometimes reply:"““Annibynwyr eistedd lawr""Methodistiaid ar y llawr””," which suggests that Methodists should sit on the floor. That is a digression, but the link between Annibynwr and a particular sect should be avoided, so I commend the word, ““annibynol”” to the Government. Finally, Plaid Cymru and, I assume, the SNP call for greater transparency in the funding of political campaigns in Wales. I want to see clearer enforcement of the use of accounting units. That point does not specifically affect my party, because we campaign only in Wales. However, other parties campaign in Wales and across the UK, and there is a temptation—I will only call it that—to spend campaign money in Wales but account for it elsewhere. I hope not. Surely the enforcement of clearer accounting units would deal with that. Greater accuracy and transparency can only be good for the political process in Wales. Individual registration has been mentioned by several hon. Members, notably the hon. Member for Gosport (Peter Viggers). I note my party’s support for the Electoral Commission’s standpoint; we would want individual registration to be introduced as soon as possible.