20mph: Adam Price says new signs have been vandalised metres from where his cousin was killed

  • Adam Price was speaking before a vote of no confidence in Deputy Climate Change Minister, Lee Waters.

Ex-Plaid Cymru leader Adam Price recalled losing his cousin, Malcolm, to a car during a 20mph debate at the Senedd.

The Carmarthen East and Dinefwr MS said that he had visited the place where Malcolm had died to find a new sign had been vandalised.

He added that for him "the political and the personal are tightly intertwined".

Price was speaking in the Senedd Siambr on Wednesday afternoon, before a vote of no confidence in Deputy Climate Change Minister, Lee Waters.

He told members how when he was four-years-old his cousin was crossing a road with his grandmother to say goodnight to his parents, when he was hit by a car and killed.

Adam Price described how Malcolm died in their arms, adding "it was his last goodbye."

"Can we say for certain that if the driver was going at 20mph on that stretch of blind road, that night, he would be alive today? No.

Signs across Wales have been defaced since the 20mph limit was introduced earlier in September. Credit: Media Wales

"But we can certainly say that his chances would've been very significantly higher."

He recalled a recent visit to the place where Malcolm was killed, in Llandybie. The MS said that a few hundred metres away, he saw a 20mph sign had been defaced.

Vandalism of signs has focused in northeast Wales, mirroring local support for the anti-20mph petition.

It’s believed few signs have been damaged or defaced in Gwynedd or Anglesey.

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Adam Price then turned to the political issue and told the Senedd that the policy "will certainly save some lives."

"The only uncertainty is: how many?"

"What have we become when the sincere, decent, principled attempt to save the lives of children and others is a catalyst for so much anger and hate."

Former leader of the party, Adam Price, stepped down in May.

The Deputy Minister survived the vote of no confidence in the Senedd.

The Welsh Conservatives forced the vote, saying Lee Waters' position was "untenable" after the backlash the policy has had.

The motion was voted down by 42 votes to 16 with no abstentions.

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