Over a quarter of a million sign petition to axe 20mph speed limit
Emily Price
Over a quarter of a million people have now signed a Senedd petition calling for the new 20mph default speed limit to be axed.
Started by Mark Baker, the petition has rapidly become the most signed petition in Senedd history.
On Wednesday morning (September 20), the petition titled ‘We want the Welsh Government to rescind and remove the disastrous 20mph law’ passed the 250,000 milestone.
The petition has been signed by Welsh Conservative Senedd members and has been shared by the party via social media.
If a Senedd petition gets over 10,000 signatures, the Petitions Committee will consider asking for a debate in the Senedd chamber – but this is not guaranteed.
Vote
During FMQs on Tuesday (September 18), Tory MS, Tom Giffard asked would the the First Minister commit to rescinding the 20mph scheme following the number of the signatories supporting calls for the limit to be scrapped.
The First Minister said simply: “No.”
Speaking in the chamber, Mr Giffard raised a complaint from an audiologist making home visits across south Wales.
In an email to the Tory MS, he said: “It takes way too long from one patient to another, uses more fuel, too risky for prosecution and licence points. We can no longer visit care home patients either for the same reason and we’ve cancelled them.
“Home care nurses are complaining as they’re not allocated travelling time between calls and makes it impossible to fit all patients allocated in.”
Speaking after FMQs, Mr Giffard: “I’m disappointed with the First Minister’s complacent attitude in his response to my question about Labour’s default 20mph speed limits.
“This was the largest ever Senedd petition, showing the high level of public anger and frustration towards this policy. It deserved a more professional and substantive response from the First Minister, showing that he took seriously the concerns of the people of Wales.
“Instead, he arrogantly dismissed these concerns and continues to bury his head in the sand, refusing to listen to anyone that doesn’t agree with him; as seems to be the way with his Government.”
Welsh Government ministers have said the new road regulation will result in fewer deaths and save the NHS around £92m every year.
However it’s has been met with opposition by the Tories who last week forced a vote in the Senedd in an attempt to block the new default speed limit coming into force.
“Message”
Following the fiery debate calling for “targeted measures” instead of a default speed limit, the Welsh Conservatives lost the vote to repeal the new 20mph law.
Shadow Minister for Transport, Natasha Asghar has said the high number and speed of which the signatures have been registered “highlights that there has been little to no consultation with the general public”.
Ms Asghar: “For nearly 270,000 people to sign a petition within such a short space of time highlights the extent of public outrage towards Labour’s disastrous policy.
“Labour and Plaid Cymru have refused to listen to public opinion and are continuing to wage their anti-worker, anti-road and anti-motorist agenda.
“Labour can still U-turn on this disastrous rollout and deliver what Wales wants by scrapping blanket 20mph zones across Wales.
“The people of Wales are using this petition to send a clear message to Labour in Cardiff Bay – they have had enough of this socialist agenda and are tired of being dictated to.”
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While the whole issue is political, it is not party political.
Here in Wales, where the government is Labour, the tories oppose a general 20 mph limit in built-up areas. In Cornwall, which is run by the tories, they are very much in favour.
(https://www.cornwall.gov.uk/transport-parking-and-streets/roads-highways-and-pavements/20mph-speed-limits/)
As for care workers, etc., their employers need to redesign their routes so that they can complete their daily work legally.
I have a round trip of 150 miles today through Gwynedd and Ynys Mon…ample time to get the feel of things, I shall report back this evening…
You think you’ll make it back over those unrepaired roads ? I like your optimism. 20m.p.h may be an issue in certain places but the damage to vehicles caused by unmaintained surfaces is a bigger issue in my book.
Bore hd, We don’t have any pot holes in Gwynedd…
Dim Potholes ? Well done, someone is doing a good job of creating and managing the budget. Is the second homes levy in surplus already and funds being deployed for the benefit of local people ?
I can report on my travel today I encountered less than a mile in total each way of 20 mph restrictions, I don’t know what all the fuss was about…
Seriously the Caernarfon by-pass is worth every penny and going via Traws rather than the coast road through that notorious Llanbedr and the rest of villages is a must though…That dodgy Mr Sunak says I can keep my car until well after I’m dead, there’s nice for you…
The 20 mph speed limit was in the manifesto from 2021. Labour were voted in by the electorate, as such they are obliged to implement it.
20 kmh (12.5 mph) speed limits are in place in residential areas, outside schools etc. all over Europe, but yet again the conservatives want to make the UK the oddball. Seems to me they are actively pursuing a dead cat strategy to detract from other mor major issues.
250,000 the selfish majority!!!
There’s 3 million people living in Cymru. Most of those 250k don’t it seems
Why would anyone living outside our country give a toss. Its a y excuse to believe the opposition.
Only 2.3 million are registered to vote. Only 1.07 million voted. 427,112 voted Labour, 279,418 voted Conservative and 217,253 voted PC, lets see where the petition figure will end? It’s already gone over 300,000
I wish people got this angry at the Tory’s for adding hundreds of pounds a month to our mortgages and destroying the NHS.
People’s priorities are truly screwed. I despair!
That’s the Tories and the unhinged extreme right for you. I reckon that the vast majority of those responding to this petition are those triggered by the Tories, TV ‘news’ channels like GB News and TalkTV as well as the usual suspects in the right wing press. My suspicions are aroused by the fact that the vast majority of those adding their names have only done so since there has been a UK-wide awareness of the 20mph default speed limit being introduced. Anyone living in Cymru has no excuse, given that the change to 20mph default for built up areas… Read more »
Youtubers in England are creating a big fuss and are totally against this blanket 20mph limit. They are quoting dual carriageways down to 20mph, the country gridlocked etc. One person said his relative used to take 30 mins from one side of Cardiff to work down the docks area, now it is over an hour. I have yet to see this, and I live here in Cymru. I wonder where they get the idea that all our roads are at 20 mph? And they are urging people to sign the petition.
Thank you for highlighting this which must surely alert the doubters that our country is suffering a ‘pile on’ over this matter. Misinformation is being peddled far afield and this is how the quarter of a million number has been reached. We cannot have government policy in our country influenced by outside interference, misinformation and outright lies which is why this particular petition must now be completely ignored.
To make things worse, the response to one youtuber video,in the comments section, was people who posted ,wanted people to destroy or deface road signs, another called for all lorry drivers to only drive at 10mph in protest, and another wanted drivers to ignore the speed limit, and then refuse to pay the fines and clog the court system up. One person claimed to have been overtaken by a cyclist.Those responsible for falsifying the ” blanket” limit of 20 mph, should be held to account.
That relative that takes 30 minutes to cross Cardiff must be travelling by invalid carriage. Takes 15 mins tops. An hour is a ridiculous lie
These are just some of the ridiculous replies people are posting on these YouTube comments section , one even said a horse and cart could travel faster than today’s traffic. Most start by saying ” I live in Wales ” or ” I am Welsh, and ” seems rather strange.
How do you know they live in England they could be pretending.
A quick search on the net , plus the info they give on thier YouTube sites, but yes they could be liars.
Love to see the actual data on the people filling this in. I know you can look at where they say they are from on the petition but it seems I can fill it in many times if I am a bit clever. The sudden uptick in this should ask for a closer examination but data protection n all. Wonder how many signed it “M Drakeford.”
Who knows, maybe it is legit.
The more this petition number goes up, the more certain it is that the majority of signatories are from outside Wales. There is NO CHANCE that a quarter of a million people IN WALES have signed this petition and I smell a very big Tory rat scurrying amongst us causing more chaos than …er.. a 20mph speed limit.
You can drill down into the data to verify it. Unless you incline to conspiracy theories, it speaks for itself.
Well, you can examine where the people signing it say they’re from. If you want to pretend to be from Wales you can just put in a random Welsh postcode. There’s a lot of 50-year-old anti-woke Facebook addicts with nothing better to do than do just that.
I did just that. It’s only a json file. A massive amount are from outside of Cymru
How naive. Democracy is lost, Senedd elections have never gone above 50% turn out. As a dodgy election method is used, and Plaid Cymru is Labour. and now they want another 36 MS, on top of all the County Councillors, and Local Councillors. Where is the gravy boat of incompetence sailing to.
They are from Wales because they can see how badly a it has all been handled.
Is the address of the people on the petition tracked to know if they are relevant voters. Do any conservative areas have 20 mph areas?
After 24 years in power Labour don’t feel the need to listen to anyone. I am 100% a socialist but try to deny it as much as you will, 1/4 million signatures has to be listened to ?
It was in their last manifesto, thats proper democracy. Not petitions that suddenly balloon overnight, making you wonder the real location of these signatories.
There was a consultation period, and indeed it was used, as witnessed by Monmouth council reversing several 20 mph roads and restoring the previous speed limit. People have had, and continue to have input into this by contacting the local council. But all of a sudden, after Tory texts urging members to vote on this petition , and falsely claiming that nobody was consulted only 1,000 people in a poll, this farce has now gone global with people under the impression that all our roads are now 20mph. You can not take this petition seriously.
Why must it? Most of them live in England. Multiposting Tories from the shires
No good boy you got it all wrong. Why would the English care.
Friends and relatives of Tory government ministers made huge amounts of money by supplying PPE most of which was not fit for purpose not a dicky bird, reduce the speed limit and the masses are gathering pitch forks and flaming torches in hand 🫤
Who is ‘Mark Baker’?
A petition swelled by a majority who don’t even live in Wales and a smattering of Dic Sion Dafydd’s no doubt. A large number of whom despise the idea of Wales and the Welsh government having any kind of political power or say in its own future.
Over a quarter of a million people have singed this petition.
SOME of them from outside of England!
A HANDFUL even only signed once
Oh no! Comrade Drakeford has gone too far! Wales might actually have the chance to elect a government which doesn’t want everyone to be as poor as possible with chips on each shoulder. Goodbye socialists, we won’t miss you 🙂
Most on this section are confusing WG with UK government. Wales has the 20mph speed limit restriction blanketing Wales. There have been in the short time it has been enforce drivers complaining it took a third longer to get to and from work, deliveries failing to turn up repeatedly due to delivery drivers refusing to deliver as it meant they would be doing so outside contracted hours, and as further evidence the much vaunted Spainish policy review submitted this week found there was a significant increase in fatalities within the 20mph speed limit scheme. And for the record I am… Read more »
That you are Welsh living in Wales is no excuse for such poor English composition.
I voted no to 20 mile an hour speed restrictions, like many others, but the welsh government has simply railroaded this through, without proper consultation and full disclosure of the results of the survey.