Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear, Minister. We were expecting a lot more on this side of the Chamber. But, anyway, we'll start north and then we'll travel south, if that's okay.
So, I'll start with the positives. Nice to see we're doing some baby steps with the current bridges that cross the Menai strait. Wind deflectors—let's get on with that as soon as we can, improve those; we've got a winter ahead of us. And varying the speed limit—we like varying the speed limit in this Chamber, don't we—I'll give you a positive on that one. But, in terms of the actual third bridge, it sounds like you're just thinking about a third bridge, which simply is not good enough. So, you're going to recommence development work and look at design development, environmental assessment, business case preparation. To me, it doesn't sound like you're completely committed to a third crossing, because I thought we'd done all this work before. I thought this was called the purple route and that that work had been done. And obviously what's disappointing to see, and this is why I question your commitment, is there's nothing in here about funding a third bridge. It's going to be an expensive project and is going to need cross-party support, and there's nothing in here about that. So, I want to ask you, and you can answer once I've finished, clearly: are you actually committed to building the third bridge across the Menai strait, 'yes' or 'no'?
Right, then, let's head down south. Now you need more thinking time—18 months of more thinking time—about solutions. And again, I thought we'd been here and gone through all of that with the M4 relief road and the black route. And in between the thinking time—which you clearly need, fair enough—for the next five years, you're going to do some improvements, which, personally, I think is just a sticking-plaster approach that ties in directly to Plaid Cymru's anti-motorist stance.
Let's talk about closing junctions. I do love the statistic about one in 10 cars not making it onto the M4. Of course they can't make it onto the M4, because they can't get onto the M4 because you've closed the junction. Closing junctions doesn't solve congestion and it's going to move that onto Newport's local roads. Newport City Council recently—July 2026—voted unanimously against any measure that diverts traffic onto Newport's already congested streets. I don't think they will be so delighted with your statement today. As we in Reform have said, stopping cars getting onto the motorway isn't a solution that Newport will thank you for. And in your own assessment, the cost of this is £14 million, and reducing traffic by a whopping 3 per cent.
Let's go over to the Heads of the Valleys plan. So, let me just get this right: ferries transport comes off the boats in Pembroke and then goes across east to Dover and on to Europe, and what you want to do is encourage, persuade, divert that freight traffic to go up over the Heads of the Valleys and back down again, and the cost of doing that is £49 million, which is some pretty swanky cafes and some nice rest facilities, and you think that will reduce the traffic on the M4 by 1 per cent. It's just not going to happen.
And then, finally, we get on to rail. Now, let's be clear: Reform supports more rail capacity, but rail should add choice, not be used to justify restricting road access. As Laura Anne Jones pointed out, the M4 users have no realistic alternative. We need to remind ourselves that, unlike us, there are a lot of people who aren't members of the lanyard class who go to work each day with a small briefcase. How are delivery drivers and tradespeople going to get on the train? 'Excuse me, ma'am, can you just move to one side while I put my 12 pots of paint and my toolbox there?' It's not going to happen.
Basically, Minister, I'm asking you to drop your ideology. What you've done here is pretend to be committed to fixing the road issues, but actually you're thinking about a bridge, you've got 18 months more of thinking about the M4, and you've got a five-year scheme, which, essentially, is going to cost millions of pounds and reduce traffic congestion by 4 per cent. So, here is the solution. On your last page of your statement, you say, 'We are developing a long-term roads-based and engineering solution.' Well, I'll tell you, we've got one: it's the M4 relief road, the black route. Reform UK have costed this at £2.8 billion. Yes, that's a lot of money, but I will guarantee here that, if there is a Reform Welsh Government, we will be lobbying and working with a Reform UK Westminster Government—which is coming, ladies and gentlemen—and we will build the M4 relief road. So, Minister, I want to confirm: are you committed to the bridge, completely and utterly committed? And please stop thinking and just get on with it. Diolch yn fawr.