Humza Yousaf and the SNP plot £45.6million 20mph scheme

• Scotland is planning to put 20mph speed restrictions on thousands of roads 

The Scottish Government is plotting a £45million scheme to put 20mph speed restrictions on thousands of roads, despite a massive backlash to the Welsh version.

In September last year, Wales became the first country in the UK to reduce speed limits to 20mph in built-up residential areas, with a view to saving lives and cutting costs for the NHS.

But those living in the country revolted against the ULEZ-style clampdown by vandalising more than 150 of the new signs.

Lee Waters, the Labour minister who introduced the scheme, even announced he was resigning last month after he received a torrent of abuse on social media.

And now Scots are facing the same issues of battling gridlock and traffic jams after it was revealed the devolved government is planning to spend £45m of taxpayers’ cash to fund a similar scheme.

A 20mph road sign that was defaced in Cwmbran, South Wales in October last year

A 20mph sign in Cardiff was covered in spray paint by protesting drivers in Wales

The Scottish Government is planning to spend £45million of taxpayers cash to fund a similar plan to the controversial 20mph scheme in Wales. Pictured is First Minister Humza Yousaf

Labour minister Lee Waters (pictured) who introduced the unpopular countrywide 20mph speed limit in Wales, announced he is resigning after receiving a torrent of abuse on Twitter

By 2025, new speed restrictions should be put in place on 35,929 sections of roads – the majority of the network across Scotland – excluding trunk roads and motorways.

The Scottish Daily Express reported the scheme will be done council by council and will require approximately £45.6m.

Graham Simpson, the Scottish Conservative shadow transport minister, told the newspaper it is an ‘utterly flawed proposition’ with an ‘exorbitant cost’.

READ MORE – Labour minister responsible for Wales’s hated 20mph speed limits announces he is standing down and deleting his Twitter account after suffering online abuse

He slammed the plans as an ‘anti-car policy’, the bill for which would ‘hammer’ taxpayers.

A Transport Scotland spokesperson told the Scottish Express that if someone is hit by a moving vehicle at 30mph, they are seven times more likely to die than at 20mph.

It was reported that the £46m cost is an estimate and more discussions are needed to determine how much it will require.

The Scottish plan to roll out the new limits is slightly different to that of Wales, with a Scottish Task Group being established to set the ‘most effective route for implementation’.

The restrictions ‘will be applied on appropriate roads’ and have already been widely implemented in several councils areas such as Edinburgh, Fife and Scottish Borders.

Instead of a blanket clampdown on reducing 30mph to 20mph, Scottish councils will consider which roads would benefit strategically.

In Wales, around 7,700 miles of urban and village roads across Wales changed from 30mph to 20mph at midnight on September 17 last year, in a shift which saw over 30,000 road signs altered at a cost of £32m.

Wales’s 20mph scheme was rolled out under Mark Drakeford’s devolved Labour government

A woman holds a sign during a protest against 20mph speed limits in Cardiff, September 2023

A man holds a protest sign in Cardiff on the day the Wales 20mph plans were rolled out

On a visit to Llandudno the PM lashed out at the change brought in last year to reduce speeds in residential areas, dropping into Welsh to say that the public said ‘dim diolch’ – no thank you

But furious drivers fought back against the scheme by vandalising the newly-erected speed limit signs.

Drivers taking to the road were also left confused as many local authorities failed to put up the new signs ahead of the 20mph limit coming into force.

Some drivers said they were ‘scared’ to go out in case of being trapped by police, static cameras and mobile speed vans, with one elderly couple having cancelled their trip to Aberystwyth to visit family due to their fear of getting a £100 fine.

READ MORE – Vigilante drivers rebel against Wales’s hated 20mph speed limits with groups trashing more than 150 signs as fury over Labour’s ‘war on motorists’ grows

Ministers have said motorists caught driving over the 20mph limit, but under speeds of 30mph, will initially be given advice by police instead of being given tickets.

Lee Waters, deputy minister for climate change, said at the time: ‘Very much the intention initially is to educate and to speak to people and not to fine but over 30mph we will be fining and issuing points.’

Newly-erected signs also caused confusion for drivers on Welsh roads, as motorists were seen sticking to the new 20mph limit while in 50mph zones.

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak also lashed out at Labour’s 20mph road speed limits in Wales, telling the Welsh Conservatives Conference there was ‘enormous anger’ at the disruptive scheme.

On a visit to Llandudno in February, he lashed out at the change brought in last year to reduce speeds in residential areas, dropping into Welsh to say that the public said ‘dim diolch’ – no thank you.

A 20mph speed limit sign in Wales which has been sprayed black by vigilante drivers

The 20mph signs were vandalised across Wales, including this one in Cardiff, Wales, last year

There was a huge surge in damage to road signs after the 20mph speed limits were brought in

The change has proved highly controversial, with business leaders and politicians saying it was having a devastating impact on the economy.

READ MORE – Rishi Sunak says there is ‘enormous anger’ in Wales over Labour’s 20mph road speed limits as he tells Welsh Tory conference the country says ‘dim diolch’ (no thank you) to go-slow plan

The go-slow limit change was met with huge opposition and more than 469,000 people signed a petition calling for it to be revoked – but the new law went ahead.

The Welsh Government provided £34m to Wales’ 22 councils for new signs required to alert drivers of the speed limit.

The minister has also overseen a ban on any new roads being built.

But last month, Mr Waters announced he is standing down from his position and deleting his X account after he revealed he was receiving a flood of unpleasant comments, saying that the social media site ‘stopped being fun a while ago’.

The architect of Wales’s unpopular transport policies added that he spent ‘far too much time on Twitter’.

He said: ‘I now get a pile of malign comments for even the most innocuous posts.

‘When I leave my transport role in a fortnight I’ll be deleting my account. Elon [Musk] can shove it up his X.’

MailOnline has contacted the SNP for comment.

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