Llywydd under fire over 20mph ‘blanket’ description
Emily Price
The Senedd’s Llywydd is under fire after refusing to confirm whether politicians can once again use the term “blanket” to describe Wales’ 20mph default speed limit.
Reform’s UK’s group in the Senedd has been using the term on the social media in recent weeks with one post published by its official Facebook page promising that the party will “scrap the blanket 20mph limit” if it ever comes to power in Wales.
Reform’s Welsh leader Dan Thomas has also used the word when talking about the policy, publishing a post earlier this month saying Plaid Cymru had “masterminded the bonkers blanket 20mph speed limit”.
The Welsh Conservatives heavily used “blanket 20mph” as a central attack line against the previous Welsh Labour Government following the roll out of the controversial speed limit in September 2023.
The policy saw significant public pushback including a record-breaking Senedd petition which clocked up hundreds of thousands of signatures.
However, the Tories were forced to stop using the “blanket” term due to formal rulings by the Senedd’s Standards Commissioner Douglas Bain that they were bringing Wales’ parliament into disrepute.
It was argued that because local councils had the power to introduce exemptions and keep some roads at 30mph, the 20mph default speed limit was not a “blanket” restriction.
In an initial investigation in January 2024, the Senedd’s watchdog cleared then-Welsh Conservative leader Andrew RT Davies of breaching the code of conduct.
Bain explained that while the word “blanket” was inaccurate, being “imprecise and inaccurate is not synonymous with being untruthful,” as it lacked deliberate deceit.
However, by September 2024, Bain took a harsher stance against Tory MS Natasha Asghar accusing her of a “degree of moral turpitude” and “flying in the face of the committee’s report” because she continued to use the phrase on social media despite knowing that a formal ruling had already declared it false.
Asghar, who was the shadow transport minister at the time, was subsequently officially censured by the Senedd.
In October 2024, Bain investigated Andrew RT Davies a second time after he posted another tweet using the term.
The Standards Commissioner concluded that Davies had breached the code of conduct and brought the parliament into disrepute.
Bain’s rulings saw the Senedd’s previous Llywydd Plaid Cymru’s Elin Jones issue a directive to all Senedd Members not to use the word when debating the 20mph default speed limit in the Chamber.
Jones’ decision was highly controversial and triggered a fierce political debate over free speech, parliamentary semantics, and misinformation.
She officially stepped down as Llywydd of the Senedd in May after 10 years in the role.
Labour’s Huw Irranca-Davies stepped into the speaker position following the May 7 Senedd election.
He was supported by a majority of Reform UK’s newly elected Senedd Members.
With Reform UK now using the word “blanket” in its social media messaging, Nation.Cymru asked the Senedd whether use of the word when describing the 20mph default speed limit was still prohibited.
We also asked a Senedd spokesperson whether Irranca-Davies would uphold his predecessor’s ruling by preventing MSs from using the term in the Chamber.
However, we were issued with a “no comment” response.
Welsh Conservative sources argued this approach was inconsistent and unfair, given they had been prevented from using the same messaging that Reform UK in Wales was now using without challenge.
A Welsh Tory spokesperson said: “We believe politicians should be free to use ordinary language to describe policies as they see fit.”
Rod King, founder of road safety campaign group 20’s Plenty for Us, said he was surprised the new Llywydd had refused to confirm his stance on use of the term “blanket” adding that those using the word were showing a “callous attitude” to a life saving policy.
He said: “It is surprising that when the Welsh 20mph implementation is earning international acclaim, delivering a 26% reduction in casualties, reducing insurance damage-only claims by 20% and with it insurance premiums that such pejorative term as ‘blanket’ has been used to describe a 20mph default with appropriate exceptions of what is a minority of Welsh roads.
“It’s even more surprising when such a use of the term has already been judged as below the standard expected from Members of Senedd.
“Outside of Wales, the UK Government and so many more are recognising the need to move to a Safe System Approach to road safety with 20mph urban/village speed limits implicitly required.
“Wales is being used as an evidential example of best (if not necessarily perfect) practice.
“Those seeking to misinform and divide opinion so blatantly, should be sanctioned for their callous attitude to such a life-saving and life enhancing initiative.”
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It is a farce and will continue to be a farce, this is not fair on those who pay your wages…
Huw Irranca Davies needs to slap this down NOW! It was under his Labour First Minister Mark Drakeford that the 20 MPH was introduced. Toryform rely on the gullible for votes. Those people are likely to swallow the ‘blanket’ lie whole and apply it on the M4, A55 and many other dual carrigeways in Cymru. If they believe the ‘blanket’ propaganda, when entering Cymru from Chepstow and Chester, down to 20 they go, pile ups, death and destruction and all the self serving Toryform class will say is ‘there you are, look at the madness’. No care for lives lost.… Read more »
Maybe do a follow up piece on his son’s lobbying role. Lot of questions still unanswered.
I think Reform can get away with it because they’re not pretending to be a serious political party unlike the Cons who still, delusionally since Johnson’s clownathon, believe they’re the natural party of government.
Mine was the missing one. Huw Day Out is beyond reproach while being the wrong person for the job, but when has that been an issue in the Senedd…
The Deform lot are pledging in essence to ensure that all Cymru drivers will have to pay more car insurance once they come into power. The hate filled fools that vote these idiots into power deserve to pay everything they have and more for making the mistake of trusting these clowns.
And maim and kill more people.
Llywydd Huw Irranca-Davies is acting like a loose cannon. First, he failed to stop Reform MS Joe Martin’s racist comments about asylum seekers; now, he is using misleading terminology about the blanket 20 mph ban favoured by the Conservative far-right in the Senedd
The role of the Presiding Officer (Llywydd) is to uphold impartiality. Either he does his job or steps down and allows someone more capable to take on this important position.
Diolch…
We have been Trumped this is not adult behaviour…!
The role of Llywydd is to avail the chamber fair debate. The rulebook is defined by the silver stick, the royal mace, that rests on the front of his desk. The only defined rules on wordage that still applies is that you still cannot diss the crown, as was seen when DET evicted LW over Windsor. I have every faith in Plaid Cymru ministers are able to rebuff any inaccurate descriptions without the need for Llywydd to intervene. In fact, that will be the downfall of the Reform MSs. They need to be exposed, this happens when they open their… Read more »
There’s a lot of incomprehensible spluttering here but the plain truth is that a majority of drivers in Lland’od go at 40mph or more. A bit of enforcement wouldn’t go amiss.
It was definitely a ‘blanket’ when introduced as it applied to all urban roads being defined as street lamped. There was very little leeway for exceptions. However, the policy was subsequently modified by the last administration, so would best now be described as a ‘default’. There has been a lifting the blanket as each local authority desired. I don’t see a problem with being honest and admitting mistakes were made. As for parliamentary language in the Senedd chamber the last administration was paranoid as they knew the way in which the policy was introduced was cack-handed and it was a… Read more »
Simpl the term blanket is lazy anger by the lead foot type of driver. We have no blanket speed limit
So now we know why Andrew R T Davies, Natasha Asghar and their Reform friends are all so slow! Evidently they drive everywhere at 20mph in their belief that there is a blanket speed limit, when in fact only 37% of Welsh roads have a 20mph limit. Just leave the comfort blanket at home!