Wales' 20mph limit: Lib Dems apologise for leader's gaffe

Sir Ed Davey "didn't have all the details, and that's unfortunate", said Jane Dodds

UK Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey's criticism of Wales' new default 20mph speed limit was wrong, the party's Welsh leader has admitted.

Sir Ed had said ministers had "not allowed local communities to say 'this particular road should be exempted'".

Now the party's Welsh leader Jane Dodds has said "that's not exactly true", as councils have imposed exemptions.

Correcting his comments, she said: "Ed didn't have all the details, and that's unfortunate. I apologise for that."

Sir Ed was speaking in an interview with BBC Wales ahead of the Liberal Democrat party conference in Bournemouth starting this weekend.

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He said he supported the change, which came into force on Sunday, but added: "We do have one criticism of the way the Welsh government has done it - it hasn't allowed local communities to say this particular road should be exempted.

"That's the difference in the Lib Dem approach. Yes, we agree in devolution, therefore Wales should do what Wales wants to do, but they should also allow local communities to take exemptions when that's appropriate."

But, as his criticism of the Welsh government was being reported on Friday morning, Ms Dodds had the embarrassing task of correcting his words and apologising.

She told Dros Frecwast, on BBC Radio Cymru: "I want to say, that's not exactly true, and I have seen the interview.

"Local authorities have had the opportunity to say which areas they want to be exempt and so I'm not sure if Ed understood that, that the local authorities could opt out of the measures.

"But he agrees with me that the measures are right, in regards to safety and cleaner air."

Councils have made exemptions on roads where there are fewer pedestrians and cyclists, in line with Welsh government guidance.

The reduction from 30 to 20mph was a Welsh Labour manifesto commitment

Elsewhere in his interview, Sir Ed backed plans to expand the Senedd from the current 60 members to 96, but said it must be done in a "cost-efficient way".

Figures released earlier this week estimated the additional 36 politicians could cost an average of £17.8m extra a year, on top of the Senedd's existing budget of £67m.

"We believe in more democracy, more diversity, and including more people, and as the Welsh Senedd has got more powers it does make sense to improve the number of representatives," he added.

'Voters should have a choice'

Sir Ed also "ruled out" the idea of forming electoral pacts with Plaid Cymru or the Greens at the next general election.

In 2019 the three parties did a deal not to stand against each other in dozens of seats across England and Wales.

"I've ruled out any pacts or deals. I think voters should have a choice about who they want to go for."

However, he also said: "We will put our resources, our campaigning efforts, in seats where we really think we've got a great chance of winning."

Sir Ed said he was "really optimistic" about his party's chances in Wales at the next general election.

Asked whether his party's election strategy was focused on winning Conservative-held seats in the home counties around London and the south-west of England rather in Wales, where Labour dominates, he said: "There's still some Conservative MPs in Wales and we're after them."

He cited the constituency of Brecon and Radnorshire as well as Montgomeryshire.

The party has one Member of the Senedd and leads Powys council, in coalition with Labour, but has no Welsh MPs.