The recent 20mph speed limit change rolled out across Wales has proved controversial, with a petition against the move receiving a record number of signatures, with over 275,000 and counting. Politicians on both sides are voicing their strong opinions on the issue, and one thing is abundantly clear, in that First Minister Mark Drakeford is standing by the decision.
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00:00 And behind this decision and this course of action lies those lives.
00:08 It is the lives of people who will be saved.
00:11 It is the lives of people who would otherwise be caught up in the road traffic accidents
00:17 which will not happen when people are travelling at 20 miles an hour, but do happen when people
00:23 travel at 30.
00:26 People across the country won't be able to receive the services that they rely on thanks
00:29 to your government's actions.
00:31 So will you commit as the 160,000 plus strong petition asks you to and rescind your disastrous
00:39 20 mile an hour scheme?
00:42 No, Salif.
00:43 Well, that answers that.
00:46 Clearly the First Minister is standing firm and his party are no different.
00:49 It seems the clear divide over the issue is the cost on the budget for the Tories and
00:53 the cost of lives for Labour.
00:54 But a recent tweet from the Council General caused a bit of a stir, accusing the Tories
00:59 of being happy about people dying as a result of road traffic incidents in Wales.
01:03 And it's worth repeating, Tories so happy to see people and particularly children killed
01:11 and injured on our roads.
01:14 That surely is an acceptable language to use when trying to engage in a policy position
01:22 that we have a disagreement over.
01:24 To say that we would be particularly pleased to see children killed and injured is not
01:31 acceptable is it, First Minister?
01:32 Well, as I understand the Council General took the tweet down immediately and has since
01:38 acknowledged that he would not have expressed it in that way had he been in a position to
01:44 give it further consideration.
01:47 I'm grateful that that tweet was taken down, but I didn't hear an apology to the people
01:52 that it was aimed at.
01:54 And ultimately it was a very offensive tweet to say the least.
01:59 Speaking of tweets, Andrew R.T.
02:00 Davis, who rightfully can see the massive online support for repealing the 20 mile an
02:04 hour in the shape of the record-breaking petition, did manage to put his foot in it a little
02:08 bit when he posted a poll on his Twitter with almost 20,000 respondents, 57% of whom ended
02:14 up supporting the idea of 20 miles an hour speed limits, somewhere close to 11,500 people.
02:20 Some Labour politicians have also been clear to point out the fact that a blanket 20 mile
02:24 an hour change is false, with hundreds of exceptions across the country.
02:28 Of the debate from the Welsh Tories, for example, trotting out this line repeatedly that it's
02:35 a blanket ban when we know that there will be exceptions, and that is part of a pattern,
02:41 First Minister, a pattern coming from the top, from the leader, Andrew R.T.
02:47 Davis.
02:48 Needless to say, this policy is incredibly divisive, possibly the most in the history
02:53 of the Senate.
02:54 Plenty of people are still not happy, but clearly the massive number of signatures on
02:58 the petition certainly isn't the full story.
03:01 James P. Twotkins, Local TV.
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