An M4 Relief Road is ‘dead in the water’ if Labour do a deal with Plaid Cymru after the election, says Welsh Conservative Leader Andrew RT Davies.
The party will pledge to get ‘diggers in the ground’ on an M4 relief road within twelve months of forming a Government – as transport companies and local businesses highlight the importance of action on the project.
Andrew RT Davies AM and William Graham AM will visit Hicks Logistics in Caldicot to discuss the project at 3pm on Thursday, as part of a series of visits related to the project.
Improving infrastructure to create more jobs in Wales is a key plank of the Welsh Conservative Party’s policy platform. On the visits, Welsh Conservatives will also highlight that a solution to the gridlock around Newport is under threat with Labour and Plaid Cymru.
Mr Davies will also warn of the perils of five more years of “life in the slow lane” under Welsh Labour.
Welsh Conservatives recently pledged to get “diggers in the ground” on a relief road within 12 months. Mr Davies says Wales’ most important infrastructure project in a generation would be “dead in the water” if Plaid Cymru and Labour were to do a deal after May 6th.
The project has already been cast into doubt after the Welsh Labour Government admitted that the planned M4 relief road could cost more than £1 billion, despite earlier assurances from the First Minister that it would cost significantly less.
Mr Davies said: “Make no mistake, the M4 relief road is dead in the water if Labour do a deal with Plaid Cymru after the election in May.
“The nationalists have already made it a red line issue, and it’s pretty clear that Leanne Wood will prop Labour up yet again for a sniff of power.
“The daily congestion around that stretch of the M4, near Newport, has long been a huge barrier to economic growth and progress must be made.
“That’s why the stakes are so high in this election, and that’s why people have to vote Welsh Conservative in May if they want to see progress on the most important infrastructure project in a generation.”
Meanwhile, Shadow Economy Minister – William Graham – said that Labour dithering on infrastructure projects has held the Welsh economy back and warned of the risk Labour pose to Wales’ economic development.
He said: “The relief road should have been built fifteen years ago. But like so many other transport projects under Labour, it fell by the wayside.
“Wales endured thirteen years of Labour in office at Westminster and yet not a single inch of train track in Wales was electrified.
“We’ve had 17 years of Labour in Cardiff Bay and there has been no progress on an M4 relief road, no progress on addressing the chronic congestion on the A40, and no progress on a third Menai crossing.
“Having spent more than a decade deliberating the need for an M4 relief road in South Wales and almost £30millon of public money on consultation fees, it is disgraceful that there are now doubts surrounding the project.”
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