Speaking in the Senedd, regional MS Laura Anne Jones launched a fiery attack on the controversial policy, accusing the government of ignoring the clear views of the Welsh public.
Ms Jones challenged the economic impact of the 20mph limit, pointing to the Welsh Government’s own analysis that estimated the cost to the Welsh economy at around £9 billion.
“It needs to be asked: has this ill thought out policy already cost our country a lot of money? Yes,” she told the chamber.
“Will it cost an awful lot to reverse? Yes. But how much has it cost our Welsh economy? By the Government’s own calculations, this has cost £9 billion.
“So you cannot say it has been a good policy. It has been a disaster from start to finish.”
Ms Jones also highlighted the record-breaking public petition calling for the policy to be scrapped, which attracted nearly half a million signatures.
Despite the scale of the petition, the Welsh Government has previously argued that it is not representative of the majority view in Wales.
The Reform MS argued that improvements in vehicle safety were already driving down road casualties across the UK, independent of the new speed limit.
“Road casualties have gone down right across the United Kingdom because cars are getting safer. It is a known fact,” she said.
Recent figures have shown that while road crashes in Wales have risen slightly, they remain below pre-20mph levels.
Ms Jones stressed that the opposition was not against targeted 20mph zones in appropriate areas.
“No one across this Chamber disagrees that 20mph should be the case outside schools and hospitals and where it is appropriate. It is disingenuous to say anything else,” she said.
“But this default 20mph policy needs to be reversed.”
The intervention comes as local councils, including Neath Port Talbot, have begun reviewing and in some cases reverting 20mph zones back to 30mph.
In response, First Minister Eluned Morgan defended the policy, stating that it had saved lives and reduced casualties. She pointed to a 22% reduction in police-recorded collisions in Wales compared to a 4% drop in England over the same period, and noted that some insurance companies were now offering reduced premiums in Wales as a result.
She said: “There are children walking around Wales today who would not have been if it weren’t for this policy. We’ve not estimated the cost of reversing the 20 mph speed limit, but it’s clear that, if other parties had intentions to reverse this decision, it would incur significant costs not just financially, but in terms of lives lost and injuries caused.”
Reform Wales has pledged to scrap the default 20mph policy if elected in the upcoming Senedd election on May 7th.
