<p>Questions Without Notice from the Party Leaders</p>

Part of 1. 1. Questions to the First Minister – in the Senedd at 1:57 pm on 28 March 2017.

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Photo of Carwyn Jones Carwyn Jones Labour 1:57, 28 March 2017

Well, as a matter of principle, we wouldn’t seek to contribute to anything that wasn’t devolved. If it’s not devolved, then it’s a matter for the appropriate UK Government department to deal with. It strikes me that he’s suggested a way forward, but the easier way, to my mind, is simply to have no tolls at all, and in an interim period to have electronic tolling, although there’s substantial investment that’s required in that. And, of course, the issue for us is that the faster the traffic goes through the Severn bridges, the faster it arrives at the Brynglas tunnels, adding to the congestion that already exists at those tunnels. That is a fact that we’re aware of, and obviously he will know the proposals that the Government have made in terms of that. To me, this is a simple issue that doesn’t need to be made complex. We need to have an understanding of what the condition of the two bridges actually is. We don’t know that. I’ve seen figures well beyond the figure that he has suggested in terms of maintenance and upkeep. That needs to be robust, first of all, and then we can have an understanding of what the liability is. What I’ve always said is that, for us as a Government, we would like to take the tolls over, but before we do that we need to understand what we’re taking on.