Governments need revenue to pay for infrastructure and services to the nation. Many problems occur in nations that require solutions, and it has become the norm that every problem can only be solved by more tax.

Usually, the government chooses a reason to morally justify the tax, particularly if it will defer the population from doing damage to each other or themselves. A classic case is that vehicle speeds are typically 30 miles per hour (mph) on roads that have houses to reduce the likelihood of collisions between pedestrians and vehicles.

In recent years, places with lots of pedestrians, and in particular children, such as at schools have a short stretch of road set at 20 miles per hour, or even as low as 10mph. Elsewhere the default speed limit is 30mph across all the nations of the UK.

Statistics from the Department of Transport reveal that reducing speed limits from 30mph to 20mph in areas such as through roads in town centres does not reduce the number of accidents or injuries to people by vehicles. 

Statistics from the ONS do show that when speed limits are unnecessarily low there is an increase in the number of motorists breaking the limit in the very low speed area and all the surrounding higher speed areas. Issuing more and more speeding fines, raising revenue!

Now Mark Drayford and his one-party state of Wales is introducing a default speed limit of 20mph across the whole of that country. It cannot be justified morally for safety reasons and therefore must be for the immoral reason of raising revenue for a country that already receives higher state spending per head of population than in England, and like Scotland provides abysmal services to its people. 

It is a damning indictment of socialist devolved governments and further proof of the ongoing war against the motorist.

Antony Nailer

UK Independence Party – Spokesman for Transport