Tory ruled on 20mph probe while facing same complaint

Natasha Asghar has been an MS for South Wales East since 2021

A Tory politician agreed a report about her leader's conduct despite being subject to two complaints about the same issue at the same time, an investigation has found.

Natasha Asghar failed to step aside from the Senedd standards committee when it cleared Andrew RT Davies for breaking rules on behaviour when he said the 20mph policy was a "blanket" speed limit.

She had been the subject of two complaints about using the term, and she continued to use the phrase after agreeing a report that asked Senedd members not to make such “inaccurate” comments.

The standards commissioner, Douglas Bain, said Asghar had brought the Senedd into disrepute, but Asghar said she was the subject of a "witch-hunt".

Senedd members, in common with politicians elsewhere, are meant to declare any interests they have.

In previous cases overseen by the standards committee, which Asghar was a member of until July, members have withdrawn from proceedings where they are subject to or otherwise directly connected with a complaint.

The Senedd’s standards committee agreed with Mr Bain that the South Wales East Senedd member had broken the Welsh Parliament's code of conduct.

Asghar is likely to be censured – a form of official reprimand and effectively a slap on the wrist – by the Senedd following a recommendation by the committee.

Two complaints into Asghar's commentary on 20mph had been dismissed by Mr Bain.

But he opened an investigation after Labour Member of the Senedd (MS) and former transport minister Lee Waters, who spearheaded the 20mph policy when it was launched a year ago, made a further complaint about her continued use of the phrase.

The Welsh government has long objected to the description of their 20mph policy as blanket because councils are able to impose exclusions on certain roads.

In October 2023 Mr Bain was examining two complaints into Asghar regarding her description of the limit as blanket.

She was told then that Mr Bain's consideration of the complaint had been suspended while he considered a “very similar complaint” about a series of social media messages on X, made by an unnamed Senedd member understood to be Tory Senedd leader Andrew RT Davies.

In the report published in January Mr Bain found that the blanket comment, while inaccurate, was not untruthful and the politician had protection under human rights law.

The committee’s report on the matter agreed not to impose a sanction, but did say politicians “should take care not to intentionally make statements which are imprecise and inaccurate”.

Asghar was a member of the committee at the time and was present for all its deliberations on the topic.

'Moral turpitude'

Mr Bain's later investigation into Asghar, detailed in a report by the standards committee, said she did not dissent from any part of the committee’s report.

Believing she had recused herself from the committee’s proceedings, Mr Bain found that the initial complaint into her was not admissible.

But one day after the January report was published, Asghar referred to 20mph as a “blanket” speed limit on social media. She did so again in a video the next day.

Waters complained on 18 April that Asghar had used the term in a Senedd discussion - where she said the minister should "tolerate" her description because of the standards committee findings.

He said she had repeated this in social media and the press, later providing social media screenshots when prompted by Mr Bain who could not consider the Senedd remarks.

Asghar denied any wrong doing, saying when she used the blanket description she was expressing an opinion which had to be tolerated because of her right to freedom of expression.

In his conclusions, Mr Bain said it had been accepted by Asghar that she was aware that the standards committee had asked Senedd members to “take care to not intentionally make statements which are imprecise and inaccurate”.

He said that in agreeing a report which said the blanket description was “imprecise and inaccurate” Asghar knew the blanket term was false. “She did not make the statements honestly,” he found, accusing her of "a degree of moral turpitude".

In his report, the commissioner added: “I am satisfied that by flying in the face of the committee’s report, which she as a member of that committee had agreed, the member was in effect saying one thing and doing the opposite."

Lee Waters had spearheaded the 20mph policy as transport minister

But Asghar was not directly investigated over her behaviour at the committee, because Lee Waters’ complaint was regarding her social media use, and because Mr Bain cannot initiate his own inquiries on matters he discovers himself.

Standards committee members agreed with the commissioner, and reminded Members of the Senedd that it was “incumbent on members to declare any relevant interests and, where necessary, recuse themselves from proceedings”.

The committee’s recommendation for censure will be passed to the Senedd for approval.

'Witch-hunt'

Asghar said: “I make absolutely no apology for standing up and speaking out on behalf of my constituents, and those further afield, who are sick to the back teeth of Labour’s 20mph speed limit policy.

“With around 97% of former 30mph roads dropping to 20mph following the introduction of this policy, it remains by opinion that this is a ‘blanket’ approach.

“This is nothing more than a witch-hunt. The individual who lodged the complaint has a history of making patronising, offensive and disrespectful remarks against me in the chamber and I fear this is in retaliation to me calling him out on his unacceptable behaviour in the past.

“I look forward to setting out my position in more detail when this matter comes before the chamber and I will continue to fight against this costly policy, which is set to deliver a £9bn blow to our economy and sparked a record-breaking petition with nearly 500,000 people calling for it to be scrapped.”

Waters said: “Standards matter, and the truth matters. I’m glad the Commissioner and the Standards Committee are standing up for both these things.

"A finding of dishonesty and moral turpitude is a serious matter, and the fact that the member again brushes the report off is breathtaking."