Mohammad Asghar AM has expressed dismay at a seemingly ill-informed response given by the First Minister on Tuesday concerning a study into the impact the Severn Bridge tolls have on Wales.
In mid-2010, the Welsh Government said an independent study concerning the impact of the tolls would be commissioned externally, be undertaken that Autumn and published in Spring 2011.
However, more than 16 months on, no report has been published and the South Wales East AM has learned that the Welsh Government has only recently appointed a consortium led by Arup to undertake the study.
Mr Asghar raised the issue with the First Minister in plenary on Tuesday, but he failed to answer the question about the report and instead only said Bridge tolls were not a devolved issue.
He said: “I found the First Minister’s response bitterly disappointing and oblivious to previous Welsh Government promises.
“The huge delays in publishing this important report are baffling, yet the First Minister’s response was more pointless Westminster-bashing. The people of Wales are growing tired of it.
“Norman Baker, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Transport, confirmed a very long time ago that such information from the Welsh Government would be very useful.
“But it seems the Welsh Government have been slow off the mark once again and, in the process, have let down many of my constituents in South Wales East”.
