Imagine you’re a politician running a country. In front of you there is a proposal that in just nine months would save your society more than £45m, prevent almost 500 people being killed or injured, make your residential areas more appealing places to live in and reduce car insurance premiums by an average of £50. Tempting, right?

Still not convinced? It is also backed by multiple scientific studies and examples of where it has been enacted in other parts of the world. Better yet, it was in your manifesto at the last election, when you became easily the largest party in your parliament. It also has the universal support of all emergency services in your nation. This is the dream.

Yet this is exactly what happened in Wales and it became the single most unpopular and controversial piece of lawmaking in the (admittedly short) history of our Senedd (parliament). I still can’t quite get over the fact that a scheme designed to save the lives of children became the latest culture war battlefield.

In September 2023 the Welsh government introduced the default 20mph speed limit, changing every road in Cymru that had a 30mph limit to 20mph unless it was given an exemption by the local authority. Essentially, almost everywhere people lived in Wales now had slower speed limits. The evidence that this would save lives was unequivocal and overwhelming.

The response from some to the policy was unrestrained fury. A petition on the Senedd website opposing the new measures has reached nearly 470,000 signatures (in a nation of just........

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