20mph: The trolls are the other side of the bridge

Dr Cinzia Yates

I recently read the article by Gwern Gwynfil on the rollout of the default 20mph speed
limits on Welsh roads and something about it rankled with me. It took a while for me to put my finger on what it was that was bothering me.

Mr Gwynfil is right after all; Welsh Government did fail to ‘riposte with firm, clear argument, making the case for a law they know is right and which is demonstrably an improvement.’

What made me uncomfortable with his assessment was the real question of ‘why
should they?’

We know there is no way to really beat the trolls. They have no purpose but to sow division and chaos and often have no clear reason for doing so. And 20mph in Wales certainly attracted the trolls.

In a microcosm of the ‘disinformation’ campaigns we see on a global scale, there was a concerted online campaign to foment displeasure at the new legislation.

As Will Hayward discovered, however, much of this campaign was led from the back by Tory politicians in England starting and seeding online campaign groups while implying that they were Welsh people unhappy with a ‘draconian’ ‘blanket’ law brought in by Labour.

This was made all the worse by many of these English politicians living in areas with, and having voted for, reductions in speed limits to 20mph.

Andrew RT Davies hopped onto this particular bandwagon and made ‘blanket 20mph’ something of a catchphrase via his prolific social media output. With the exception of proven mistruths about funding for refugees, he sought to push the issue of this legislation at the expense of all other policy.

Chant

It became a kind of chant, drilling into the brains of Welsh people. So pervasive was this chant it was taken up by other politicians, despite it being clearly against the Senedd’s code of conduct.

But was this really an attack on reducing speed limits? Was this a citizen led revolt against the war on motorists (and their surprisingly sensitive clutches)? Was this the legitimate cry of environmentalists concerned at the increased emissions of a car taking one minute extra on a ten-minute journey? Of course it wasn’t.

It was a dig at Labour in Wales by the Tories in England and a dig at Wales making its own decisions (even if remarkably similar to those in regions of England) by unionists. It had nothing to do with speed limits.

The use of the term ‘blanket’ was clearly an attempt at undermining the idea of a Welsh Government legislating for Wales as a whole.

I’m not a Labour supporter and they are by no means perfect. The Senedd is not
perfect and neither will it be. But did they fail to fend off the trolls and misinformation or did they, as many of our mother’s advised us to, just ignore the bullies?

20mph default limits are a sensible idea. There is plenty of data to support the change. It was evidently a policy designed with safety in mind. Even if it wasn’t perfect it was hardly the signs of despotic government trying to exploit its people; it was some politicians trying to stop kids getting run over.

So why, in the face of doing something so uncontroversial should the Welsh Government get involved in the games and nonsense of American and increasingly UK politics? Why would a government, making policy decisions for the good of the nation they govern get distracted with petty arguments with trolls when they have a country to run?

Twisted

Trolls are nasty, twisted beings that can cause huge amounts of death, destruction and misery. And boy is global politics full of death, destruction and misery. But Wales doesn’t have to engage with that kind of politics. It doesn’t suit Wales.

Many people were drawn to Drakeford’s leadership during Covid because he genuinely appeared to be attempting to do what was best for everyone, while Johnson and Trump were evidently doing what was best for them.

(I’m aware this is controversial. Drakeford’s government did not get everything right when it came to Covid. We know that now. The point is that in an incredibly difficult situation they seemed to do their best).

Gething tried to brazen his way through the donations scandal and subsequent failures to remain entirely honest, and where Johnson and Trump succeeded, Gething failed.

Welsh people and politicians said no to that kind of brazen dishonesty. Where England had rejected the friendly Geography teacher persona of Corbyn (mainly due to a smear campaign), Wales had sat quite comfortably under the generally sensible and honest and respectable Drakeford for many years.

Even his son’s criminal convictions didn’t distract from his unwavering appearance as a gentle guy just doing his best and not playing stupid games at the expense of a nation.

During the recent violence across many English towns, it was noted that Wales did not have any of the same events; that’s not to say that there are no Welsh people with abhorrent views, but they do not feel emboldened enough to go out and act violently on them.

Even the chant of ‘blanket’ is being seriously challenged by the Senedd’s Standard’s Commissioner in the case of shadow transport minister Natasha Asghar, rather than being allowed to slide as ‘just a tweet’ despite her claims of free speech.

Wales is not yet a nasty, twisted being. It still has a sense of trying to be sensible, act for the many, where words matter and trying to stick to the job at hand. Wales has no truck with a gamified politics reminiscent of a schoolyard argument about whos Dad could beat up who.

Trolls out

So, did Welsh Government fail to tackle the disinformation about the 20mph
legislation? Or did they take the grown-up position, safe in the knowledge it was the right thing to do, and just ignore the trolls?

Did they starve the trolls of the oxygen they so desperately want and save that oxygen for themselves to do more of what they’re paid to do?

The legislation still stands and accidents are down so the trolls evidently weren’t that successful. It is this attitude that gives me hope for Wales where I may have lost hope elsewhere.

Wales doesn’t have to play the same nonsense games that politics elsewhere has become. We can hold our politicians to higher standards. We can allow them to legislate on the basis of hard data and safety and ignore the inevitable pub bores with keyboards.

It will be hard as things stand with Labour/Tories tethered to their London HQs. Ultimately, I feel this is a good argument for Independence, Wales can be free to have a better politics. It can keep striving to do the best for its people and avoid vapid tribalism.