A Daily Mail columnist has attacked the Welsh Government for not caring that the recent restrictions on road building are "holding the country back".
Writing for the paper Stephen Glover said that devolution had been "an unmitigated disaster" and accused First Minister Mark Drakeford of being an "ideologue" who was engaged in a "war on motorists". Mr Glover was referring to the fact that in Cymru (though he referred to it as "the Socialist Republic of Wales") the Welsh Government had plans to massively curtail future road building projects.
The Oxford based columnist said: "In the Socialist Republic of Wales, Corbynista First Minister Mark Drakeford is scrapping nearly all major road-building projects for environmental reasons. Please note that Wales has an abysmal road network. Try driving from Anglesey to Cardiff."
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He then went on to describe Wales as "The Principality" (it isn't a principality) and "one of the poorest regions in the United Kingdom and is in desperate need of economic development" going on to say that a moratorium on road building "will inevitably hold the country back, but what does Mark Drakeford care?
"You may have noticed the UK has an avowedly Conservative government which, while not particularly sympathetic to motorists, is not hell-bent on punishing them. With the powers bestowed by devolution, Khan and Drakeford evidently are."
Despite only being introduced in a narrow referendum, devolution in Wales has proved increasingly popular. In 2011 the was a strong vote for more powers being devolved to Wales and in the last Senedd election anti-devolution parties were wiped out.
Mr Glover then turned his anger on councils saying: "Actually, it's not just devolution which facilitates the persecution of motorists. Local councils have enormous powers to make driving a misery, and those run by Labour, the Lib Dems or the Greens (and, not infrequently, a combination of all three) are increasingly on the rampage in a number of cities.
"Such a party alliance is intending to split Oxford, where I live, into six separate zones during the day. There will be 'gates', though you won't be able to pass through unless you are on business or a resident, in which case you must apply for a permit. Otherwise it's a £70 fine."
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