So Blog Villain Alun Cairns, Is The Abolition Of The Severn Bridge Tolls As Big a Triumph As You Make Out?

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

I've chatted about blog villain, political slimeball and Welsh Secretary of State Alun Cairns' speech to the Conservative party conference before when I questioned how truly Welsh he is. But something happened last night which drew me back to it.

In his "look at me, look at me, what a wonderful guy I am" speech ( and to be fair you do have to look....he's very small). Secretary of State Cairns boasted that the abolition of fees for crossing the Severn Bridge showed a commitment to the Welsh economy by the Conservatives.

But...

In this morning's Times newspaper apparently the Ministry of Transport is considering Pay For Mile Charging on roads. Currently this proposal only applies to lorries but may be extended to cars.

Now I'm making the assumption that as this is to do with the collection of tax for use on the road, this is a British wide issue. But even if I'm wrong and it only applies to England this proposal will damage the Welsh economy (particularly West/North West Wales).

Why? Say you're a haulier based in Llanelli and you travel throughout Britain. Because you're based towards the edge of Britain your pay per mile costs would be greater overall than an equivalent haulier in, say Birmingham because most of their journeys (even to say Edinburgh) would be quicker. Consequentally you might have to charge your customers more or be unable to continue the business.

So then Mr Cairns. Were you aware of this road charging scheme? And if not why not? Do you agree with it? And why boast about the forthcoming abolition of the road charging scheme for the Severn Bridge when something a lot worse might be coming to Wales soon?

And do you really care?

Until the next time.