Mark Drakeford's 20mph zones update has caused chaos and left Welsh people utterly confused, says Andrew RT Davies

What followed from Mark Drakeford was as clear as mud. He said that if somebody deliberately broke the law, and if they drove well above 20mph in a 20mph zone, the law would be enforced.

But he went on to say that if somebody who was driving over the 20mph speed limit was ‘genuinely confused’, he didn’t think the police would move to enforcement. Summing up, to leave out any potential confusion and to put all our minds at rest, he said: “But it would need to be genuine confusion, rather than just a claim to be confused.”

There we have it then. If you just claim to be confused, you’ll be met with enforcement. You might lose your licence; you might even lose your job. But if you are genuinely confused? A slap on the wrist and be on your way. Got it?

How on earth will a police officer be able to decide the difference between someone who is genuinely confused and someone who is just claiming to be confused? Will there be seminars for police officers on how to spot the signs of genuine confusion?

This bad law is not just causing confusion. Already we’ve learned that bus services in North Wales will be scaled back because of the change, which will isolate communities and damage business.

Now the review into the blanket 20mph speed limit is set to be under way. Far from seeking out a fresh, independent voice, the person appointed to review the policy is the same man who recommended that it should be implemented in the first place. This is simply marking your own homework.

It’s easy to see why the Welsh Government’s own evaluation of the policy said it could cost the Welsh economy up to £9 billion. This is truly a de-growth policy, which will make Wales poorer, while the baying mob of Lycra-clad so-called ‘sustainable transport’ lobbyists applaud. There’s nothing sustainable about cutting bus services, damaging our economy and confusing our hard-working police officers. Even the candidates to succeed Mark Drakeford as First Minister can see that, which is why they’ve attempted to distance themselves from the policy despite being part of the government implementing it.

This all, of course, is part the culture war on cars Labour is fighting in Wales, in London, and if Keir Starmer ever gets the keys to Number 10, across the UK. They’ve expanded ULEZ in London, hitting poorest motorists the hardest, under the backwards concept that forcing the working public to pay £12.50 a day to Sadiq Khan will stop climate change.

Back in Wales, they’ve banned road building, condemning people to more time in traffic and more time away from their loved ones. Again, this is done with the approval of the – often taxpayer subsidised – lobby groups who think that adding an extra bit of capacity to the gridlocked M4 will turn a stretch of road through Newport into rush hour Los Angeles.

This isn’t about reason. This a war on the motorist, and on the perceived attitudes of the motorist, by metropolitans who can rely on their fold-bikes or public transport to get around.

All of these anti-motorist policies do the same thing: They make it more difficult for the people who keep our country moving from getting to work. What sort of message does that send to businesses?