Not only did the Conservative group support my motion in November 2016 to scrap the tolls following their return to the public sector, but a Conservative Government in 1992, of which I think the previous Member may have been a Minister, legislated for those tolls to be scrapped following the return of those bridges to the public sector. I think one thing I just hugely welcome about this decision, for which the Prime Minister, the Secretary of State, and, frankly, this group as well—as well as others in this Assembly—deserve a lot of credit, is actually that politicians are doing what they promised. Having said, under the Severn Bridges Act, ‘This bridge will be built by the private sector. You’ll be able to raise tolls on it until a fixed sum is raised. It returns to the public sector, and then we will see tolls abolished’, we are doing that, and I think that is very good for the credibility of politicians, particularly when they are trying to fund and develop infrastructure. The idea suggested, I think from a sedentary position, by Alun Davies that this is a nationalisation is surely preposterous. It’s quite the reverse. The private sector has built this bridge—the southern bridge—under provisions from the public sector and the Severn Bridges Act, conditional on them giving it to the public sector once a certain sum has been raised. That is happening, and the UK Government, I’m delighted to say, is taking on a full commitment for the maintenance of those bridges out of the Highways England budget. I think it’s absolutely fantastic news. I also believe that the benefit to the Welsh economy may be even larger than suggested in a report, which I think was some years ago now, of a £107 million boost, because things have moved on since then. The economy is stronger, particularly along the M4 corridor. What we’ve seen in terms of prosperity and job generation in Bristol has been very strong in recent years.

Also, I think, for Wales and the south-east Wales region I represent, there is a return of confidence, and I think scrapping these tolls, along with electrification of the railway and improvement—15 or 20 minutes quicker to get to London once that electrification is complete, with, we hope, an M4 relief road—. And it is a serious point that there will be more congestion at the Brynglas tunnels once tolls are removed, and it does increase the importance of getting on with building that relief road. But I think in combination, and also with the south Wales metro, all those together will change what for a long time, I think, has been an unfair perception, to the extent others elsewhere may hold it, that there is a distance let alone any remoteness to south Wales. But when you bring those travel times down, I think you will link the south Wales economy much more closely with the M4 corridor, with Bristol, and with London, with the far higher GVAs we see in those areas, and I think there will be a huge boost to the economy of south Wales. I think it’s fantastic this Chamber voted unanimously to scrap the tolls and the UK Conservative Government are now delivering on that.

I’d also just like to speak briefly to the other part of the motion, about the north Wales growth deal. I think it’s very encouraging that the UK Government is developing an ever more flexible approach to how these growth deals are arranged. There’s been difference in terms of what’s devolved between different regions and also the degree of money put in by central Government. I think, for a period, there was a requirement that areas had to have an elected mayor for the metro region if they were going to go down that route. That has now been removed, at least for rural or, I think, mixed rural-urban areas, and whether that’s a choice or whether that’s something that’s right for north Wales I hope will be driven by north Wales and what people there think of the proposition.

But I think the flexibility is particularly important for north Wales because nowhere more than Deeside, even with the Newport-Bristol links—. I think that agglomeration of economic activity across the England-Wales border around Deeside is hugely important for generating the future prosperity of the region, but also I think makes it very difficult to have, in some ways, a national border running through that agglomeration. Even if we can’t have a growth deal that crosses a border, I do hope that the north Wales growth deal will be particularly sensitive to those unique needs, given how closely integrated the economy in those parts is. While there’s great flexibility, I think, from UK Government, I hope that will be matched by Welsh Government and that there will be a real appreciation that devolution should not end at Cardiff Bay. For north Wales in particular, as well as the references to mid and west Wales, we need a sensitivity and we need particular solutions that are going to be right for them, just as scrapping the Severn tolls is so right for south Wales.