Jessica Morden Jessica Morden - Labour MP for Newport East, Shadow Deputy Leader of the House of Commons and PPS to Keir Starmer
Having campaigned for many years, alongside Labour colleagues, for the Government to act on the Severn Bridge tolls, today’s news is welcome.
For far too long, commuters and businesses in Newport East and beyond have had to absorb the extortionate toll charges. It’s them that we’ve fought for so it’s a relief that, after years of pressure, the Tory Government has finally listened.
The announcement is bittersweet, however, following yesterday’s news that the Tory Government’s has scrapped its longstanding pledge to electrify the railway line between Cardiff and Swansea.
As always with this Tory Government the devil will be in the detail – my Welsh Labour colleagues and I will ensure the Tory Government is scrutinised, that we have a timetable for the bridges returning to public ownership and that the tolls really are scrapped.
https://www.gov.uk/government/news/drivers-to-benefit-from-free-severn-crossings-from-2018