Lee Waters to step down from transport post
Lee Waters, the minister in charge of implementing Wales’ 20mph default speed limit, has announced his intention to step down from his transport role.
Mr Waters’ position as Deputy Minister for Climate Change was pivotal in rolling out the 20mph default speed limit for Wales, which came into force on September 17 2023.
Deleting account
Announcing his decision on X today (4 March 2024), he wrote: “Over the last 15 years I’ve spent far too much time on Twitter.
“It stopped being fun a while ago but I now get a pile of malign comments for even the most innocuous posts.
“When I leave my transport role in a fortnight I’ll be deleting my account. Elon can shove it up his X”
“No confidence”
Mr Waters faced a vote of no confidence, tabled by the Welsh Conservatives back in September 2023.
Before the debate, Welsh Tory shadow minister for transport Natasha Asghar said: “His position is untenable, it’s time for him to go.”
Wales is the first country in the UK to reduce the default speed from 30mph to 20mph on restricted roads and the controversial policy has drawn support as well as opposition.
A petition calling for the Welsh Government to scrap the new 20mph default speed limit has attracted the most signatures since the Senedd was created back in 1999.
Mr Waters also became a target for some opponents of the introduction of the limit.
“Sigh of relief”
Responding to the news that Mr Waters was stepping down, Andrew RT Davies, leader of the Welsh Conservatives in the Senedd, shared a photo of Mr Waters on his Instagram account, accompanying his post with the Spice Girls’ song, ‘Goodbye’.
His Instagram post said: “Lee Waters, the man who imposed 20mph speed limits on Wales, has announced he’s standing down.
“This will relieve many Welsh people. But sadly it’s false hope.”
“Lee Waters imposed 20mph speed limits on Wales with the support of Labour, Plaid and the Lib Dems.
“We’ll get more of the same from his successor.”
He previously said: “Motorists and business owners across Wales will breathe a sigh of relief at this news.
“The Deputy Minister’s time in post has been characterised by one anti-motorist policy after another, slowing Wales down and doing serious damage to our economy.
“It’s time to scrap the road building ban, scrap the 20mph speed limit, and implement a transport policy that gets Wales moving.”
Support our Nation today
For the price of a cup of coffee a month you can help us create an independent, not-for-profit, national news service for the people of Wales, by the people of Wales.
I’d rather he showed more courage by staying on to defend his original VERY SANE initiative.
Yes, it’s a fundamentally sound policy, which cannot be said for many Welsh Government initiatives.
I am not sure what was sound about it? Cars pollute more at lower speeds, they were not designed or geared for 20mph. That is an engineering fact. The safety issue is also ropey as only 80odd people die on Welsh roads every year, and we don’t separate speeding from heart attacks. The policy will save statistically 3-4 people a year from death costing £40-100M, which would save more lives in early cancer diagnosis.. Statistically accidents to current and past police data go up in 20mph zones. Everyone agrees with 20mph in the right areas such as schools and populated… Read more »
No it wasn’t at night I’m.forced to drive 20 mph, worse followed some idiot doing 16 mph
So Drakeford and one of his twelve disciples leaves the table, may the rest follow smartly…
Who picks up the tab ? We the people of Cymru do…
To see the back of Rani Morgan would give the soul of my dear departed mother in law some solace…
Get rid of the lot of them. However at the next Senedd elections you can be assured that most of our dopey electorate won’t even turn out to cast a vote so we end up getting lumbered with same old, same old ….
Great news
“Taxi for Mr Waters”. It will be a slow one, of course.
A day of rejoicing in Llanbedr…the underhand so and so…
That good little droid Andrew R2D2 is just a hypocritical pile of dogsh!te, always willing to do what his masters in Westminster instruct him to do.
Let’s hope the next transport minister is from the rural heart of Cymru…
Why? 80% of the population of Wales live urban areas. This idea that rural Wales is the ‘heart’ of Wales is a myth and a very damaging one at that.
Oops…my view across the river of Cader Idris in it’s snow topped majestic beauty says different…say hiya to Fireman Sam…ha ha ha…
So how is the view through your rose tinted specs?
Be sure to say shwmae to Tractor Tom.
No roses just raw nature, the honk of the Geese and the tide rising and falling with the moon. I can see from the Bwlch to the Bridge, with the gold hills like a Swiss Cheese behind me, no coal tips but quartzfalls tumbling down through the wood planted by soldiers returned home after the Battle of the Nile to mark the Peace after war and Iolo’s mate’s lending library beyond the old ship yards and beyond that the center of the course cloth industry. I too grew up with my own Pandy… No Roses just pure Hanes Cymru, tara..… Read more »
It’s obvious that Andrew RT Davies doesn’t believe there is a serious environmental crisis which threatens the very ability of humans to continue to inhabit our planet. He clearly believes we can continue to pollute the atmosphere, damage people’s health, continue to increase global temperatures (which last year passed the 1.5 degrees agreed at the Paris Climate Conference on every single day) without affecting ourselves and the planet. The bad news for those who believe we can continue in the same old way without any harmful effects is that the measures taken so far by the Labour government, while a… Read more »
To pop up again as Mr Miles’ right-hand man, be careful what you wish for
Good. I hope he takes his stupid policies with him.
Why even bother quoting what R2D2 says – we know he is only capable of bile and soundbites and the endless shrill of dog-whistle-politics.
Wonder if he will reverse the restrictions on the M4 as the other government has removed the speed restrictions on the M1 and M6 before he goes or must we wait a lifetime to get back to some resemblance of normality in the transport sector.
I agree driving on the m4 at night empty but I have to do 50mph
I will miss him myself as will many others I think he is a great guy and a visionary with the will to actually do things rather than just talk about them.
His 20mph legacy is the envy of most of the civilized world and many countries such as Scotland and much of England plan follow his plans in the coming years.
Are you living in the real world or land Drakeford? The speed limit policy was setup by those believing that they live in a Communist country where what the Government says is what will be. We reside in a democracy this policy was opaque in description in Labour’s manifesto much as an after thought to fill a few lines and calm the environmental lobby. I have triple glazing, fully insulated property, solar panels and drive an EV. Can any of these politicians say the same? Lead by example not by dictating against the electorate. Your job is to fulfil your… Read more »
The speed limit policy was introduced by a democratically elected government and was included in that aforementioned democratically elected government’s election manifesto. It was debated in the Senedd by democratically elected representatives from four political parties, some of whom supported it and some of whom opposed it. It was voted on in the Senedd by those very same democratically elected representatives from four political parties, some of whom supported it and some of whom opposed it. If you really believe that the 20mph speed limit is ‘communist’ then you have clearly disappeared down the bunny hole of right-wing conspiracy theories.… Read more »
I can’t recall anyone I speak too saying they wanted 30 mph, try inforcing the 30mph would be better or even 25mph
Well I do and so do many of the people I mix with.
Like I said, just because you (and your family, friends and aquantances) don’t like a particular policy introduced by a particular government that you don’t like doesn’t make it ‘communist’.
There are lots of policies introduced by the tories in Westminster which I don’t like but that doens’t make them ‘fascist’.
Well some of us can’t afford triple glazing, solar panels or an EV as much as we’d love to, but one of the main reasons for the 20mph limit was road safety. The same injuries or worse can be caused at 30 mph whatever powers your car.
As far as Lee Waters is concerned, if the abuse he receives from the likes knuckledraggers who comment on WalesonLine is anything to go by I really don’t blame him one bit. Thank you Lee Waters.
He is quite right about twitter. It is now a cess pit and full of hate. Best thing the world can do is cancel their accounts and let musk suffer. But then hate can be stoked by opposing the 20mph in the right area’s such as calling it a blanket ban and favouriting channels like gbeebies or certain motoring sites to spout off nonsense.
But ARTD celebrating the way he does, he did that with 30p lee. Hows that going?
Twitter looks to have added a new feature that can dox you, reporters and vulnerable and politicos, be very worried about this.
Anybody with any sense has ditched Twitter for anything serious, and are using Signal or Telegram.
Agree with you about Twitter, but Musk is unlikely to suffer, mores the pity. He, and people like him will just get richer while we all get poorer. Listen to Gary Stevenson on YouTube.
This is what happens when you think you can headbutt the nation into submission on a vast range of topics – you may bite off more than you can chew and end up with a headache. Let this be the last in a line of authoritarian, blinkered, climate obsessed politicians that think they can carry on regardless. Heed the voices and protests from the Welsh people & farmers on matters of bad policy and wasteful ideologically driven spending that we disagree with. Consider OUR priorities over yours and far above your career ambitions. We can distinguish between good leadership and… Read more »
Lee Waters’ statement is a fitting way to quit the hate filled cesspit that is musk’s X and also to announce that he will be stepping down as Wales’ transport minister. I feel bound to say that, with the possible exception of Leanne Wood, i can’t think of a politician in Wales in modern times who’s been the target of more vile online abuse and threats than Lee Waters. And it hasn’t only come from people opposed to efforts save lives on Welsh roads – it’s also come from far right bigots opposed to UK home office plans (now dropped)… Read more »
I recognise some grain of truth there – you will always get haters – but it is odd how some politicians never have to navigate such troubles? Drakeford and Waters get HUGE grief because they are haughty, evasive and have an excuse for everything. And they NEVER listen to negative feedback. They just double down as they are right and we are wrong – they think THAT is leadership. Its not. Its also hardly the stuff of endearment to the electorate – I shan’t even mention Waters’ constituency neglect and his selfish selection of topics to engage or disengage with.… Read more »
please stop quoting rt it scares the kids
Can we now please get the M4 relief motorway around Newport built
They expanded the M5. It blocked up. They installed smart motorway. It blocked up and killed people.
Building more roads just leads to more traffic.
And
And more traffi congestion. In other words, building more roads isn’t the answer.
And how is the population growth looking Mr Solution? Should this resource deployment not aim to match natural population growth? Or just head in the sand and shout bicycle?
I’m sad that he is standing down. He actually did some great things in transport. E.g., Fflecsi, One Bus tickets , TrawsCymru. When I wrote to him about a couple of issues, he was very helpful. Diolch Mr Waters.
I wish him all the best for the future.
You don’t fancy a job being First Minister Mr Williams, there would not be a cross word in the Senedd.
I really won’t miss grumpy Mr Drakeford or the Transport Minister or that Cry-Baby Smiles, how anyone can take that man seriously is beyond me. I’ll stop there…
Regarding cars as a society we’re reliant upon them but also we’re addicted to using them. Reducing the reliance part can only really be addressed at government level. The addiction part is down to us all. The 20mph limit can have an effect on the addiction but the Labour government either didn’t have sufficiently complementary measures to reduce reliance or if it did it not make a good enough job of “selling” the whole package to the public. The arguments against us taking actions to reduce our reliance and addiction to car use are basically one or more of the… Read more »
You are addicted to saying addiction! People find their cars practical, reliable, better value, more convenient, safer, quicker and far more usable and dependable than any public transport in Wales. That isn’t ‘addiction’ that is a decision and solution borne of necessity. There is a reason people use the Tube in London as the go-to public transport – it increases their convenience as solo travellers and reduces their journey time. Simple – we have the OPPOSITE in most cases! So, bring it on here – in the meantime get a bit of perspective over a car journey in Wales for… Read more »
A good man.
Am not a Labour supporter, but Plaid.
Plaid could do with Lee on their side.
20 mph great idea – those who want the faster track in the Rat Race – Offa’s Dyle is thataway… don’t stop when you get there, and don’t come back!
However, a great many English councils (including – gasp – tory ones) have adopted the 20 mph speed limit long before Wales did. If anything Wales was behind on this one.
well, the more the Merrier. Scotland too as I remember. I am English/Irish. The reason we moved to Wales all those years ago was to get away from Mrs Thatchers rat race. The steady old job i was in for 20 years became just that. Our unions had brought the weeks work to 11 hours a day from 16+ when I started. thatcher took it back to 15 hours a day. So don’t talk to me about the bleedin’ tories Barry !. They have wrecked peoples lives wholesale. All they do is create poverty and hardship for the likes of… Read more »
I’m not a tory supporter, I was just pointing out that a great many English councils – including tory ones – have introduced the 20mph limit before Wales. By pointing out that many of these councils are tory ones I was merely highlighting the hypocrisy of the Welsh tories.
Did Arty Davies (Welsh Labour’s greatest asset) really manage to say all that without using the word “blanket” once?
Im sure Lee Waters is a secret Tory as his policies have done more to help the Tories vote in Wales than anything ARTD could ever do. He has also set back the Nationalist movement by several years.