7. Plaid Cymru Debate: The proposed M4 relief road

Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 4:13 pm on 7 February 2018.

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Photo of Andrew RT Davies Andrew RT Davies Conservative 4:13, 7 February 2018

Well, that's where I was going to take my argument, because the Cabinet Secretary is clearly in possession of information, and the evidence he's given to the economy and transportation committee is that costs would have to rise significantly before the question mark was put in on this project. Well, we've had a figure of under £1 billion from the First Minister some two years ago. We've got to £1.4 billion today—perhaps £1.5 billion—without VAT. That's a £600 million increase. I'm just wondering, myself, what the Cabinet Secretary believes is a significant rise in costs before the Welsh Government themselves question the viability of the project and what solutions might well be coming forward. [Interruption.] Well, I haven't got access to the—. I hear the chuntering from the Plaid Cymru benches, but I have to say—[Interruption.] I have to say I haven't got access to the detailed information. We have put our cards on the table and said that we believe a solution needs to be put in place. [Interruption.] We believe that a solution needs to be put in place. I was travelling this piece of road this morning—at 5 o'clock this morning—heading up to Raglan livestock market. At 6:30 this morning, that road was chock-a-block, three lanes, all the way from the Severn bridge back to the Brynglas tunnels. You cannot turn your back on that situation, that the road has a serious problem and a serious stranglehold on the Welsh economy. What you can't turn away from either is the escalating costs that seem to be associated with the Government's preferred project. And so I do go back to the original proposition that we're debating here today, which is the substantive motion that this house should have the ability to vote on the project going forward and becoming a capital project of the Welsh Government and the Welsh taxpayer putting resources in. And I would hope that like-minded Members on the Government benches would consider that a reasonable proposition and consider voting for this motion today.