A new poll shows that young people in Wales support the new 20mph limit though the majority of the country still oppose the introduction of the new law. In September the Welsh Government introduced the default 20mph limit which changed most, but not all, 30mph roads to 20mph. The evidence suggests that this could prevent up to 20,000 casualties over 10 years.
A poll last month for WalesOnline by Redfield & Wilton Strategies showed there was huge opposition to the limit in Wales several weeks after the new limit came in. The company has now conducted another poll of people in Wales.
This has shown that there remains opposition to the limits but the level of those who "strongly oppose" the measure has fallen and people under 25 are actually in favour of it. The chart below shows the level of opposition now compared to a month ago. It suggests that support for the policy has dropped slightly though the amount of people who describe their opposition as "strong" has fallen.
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When it comes to how supporters of different parties feel about the new speed limit the results are interesting. Labour supporters are far more likely to strongly support it than other parties, which is unsurprising give it was a Welsh Labour manifesto commitment. Plaid supporters are the most likely to support the policy but also record very highly levels of strong opposition.
The polling also suggests that the younger you are the more likely you are to support the new 20mph limit. More people aged between 16-24 support the limit than oppose it – the only group where that is the case.
Polling by the same company released on November 15 showed that Labour holds a huge lead over the Tories in Wales heading into the next election. It also suggested that though the introduction of the 20mph limit has caused a fall in support for Mark Drakeford it hasn't really affected Welsh Labour's polling. This is possibly because Mark Drakeford will not be in post come the next Senedd election having already stated his plan to step down before then. If you want to get the latest detailed analysis of the big stories facing Wales you can sing up to the Will Hayward newsletter here.
