Extract from Welsh Assembly questions to the First Minister - Jun 17

Wednesday, 19 June 2019 07:20

Mark Reckless AM (Leader of the Brexit Party Group): This weekend, the South Wales Argus ran the headline: 'TRAFFIC is queuing and there are heavy delays on…the M4 around Newport.' As they tweeted it, I suggested they might want to make it their pinned tweet in future. On this occasion, the AA reported that there were severe delays, with...Request free trial

Mark Reckless AM (Leader of the Brexit Party Group): This weekend, the South Wales Argus ran the headline:

'TRAFFIC is queuing and there are heavy delays on…the M4 around Newport.'

As they tweeted it, I suggested they might want to make it their pinned tweet in future. On this occasion, the AA reported that there were severe delays, with an average speed of 15 mph. the AA then said:

'there has not been an accident…the queues are the result of "usual traffic heading to Brynglas Tunnel".'

First Minister, by breaking your manifesto pledge to build a relief road for the M4, aren't you saying that Wales is closed for business under Labour?

Mark Drakeford AM (First Minister of Wales): Well, those people will be very glad, Llywydd, that they don't now have to wait five years and more for a solution to the difficulties that they faced, because my decision is not a decision that is not about addressing the difficulties that exist around the Brynglas tunnel, it is about finding alternative ways of addressing those problems, of addressing them far sooner than an M4 relief road ever would have done. I look forward to meeting Lord Burns tomorrow, who will chair the group that we have now set up to deliver those rapid ideas that will make a difference at the Brynglas tunnel. I think that will do far more for the people to which the Member referred, and I am determined to go on working with local representatives from the Newport area, including the city council, to make sure that we now move ahead, look to the future, find new solutions and address the issues that are there to be addressed.