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| Version 7 | Version 8 |
|---|---|
| Budget 2016: Severn bridge tolls to be halved | Budget 2016: Severn bridge tolls to be halved |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| Toll charges on the Severn crossings will be halved in 2018, Chancellor George Osborne has announced in his Budget. | Toll charges on the Severn crossings will be halved in 2018, Chancellor George Osborne has announced in his Budget. |
| The current £6.60 toll for cars - already due to be cut to £5.40 - is now expected to fall to around £3.30, subject to inflation. | The current £6.60 toll for cars - already due to be cut to £5.40 - is now expected to fall to around £3.30, subject to inflation. |
| Mr Osborne said he had listened to the concerns of Conservative MPs in Wales. | Mr Osborne said he had listened to the concerns of Conservative MPs in Wales. |
| Tax breaks for a Port Talbot enterprise zone, in the wake of job losses at Tata Steel, were also announced. | Tax breaks for a Port Talbot enterprise zone, in the wake of job losses at Tata Steel, were also announced. |
| Other measures include: | Other measures include: |
| Severn bridge tolls are currently collected by a firm to pay for the construction and running costs, which are due to be repaid by 2018. | Severn bridge tolls are currently collected by a firm to pay for the construction and running costs, which are due to be repaid by 2018. |
| The current charge - only paid by vehicles travelling from England into Wales - is £6.60 for cars, £13.20 for vans and £19.80 for lorries and buses. | |
| The toll booths could be removed and replaced by a system of online payments, if a UK government review recommends it. | The toll booths could be removed and replaced by a system of online payments, if a UK government review recommends it. |
| 'Step forward' | |
| Monmouth Conservative MP David Davies said he was "absolutely delighted" by the chancellor's announcement. | |
| "Halving the tolls is not as much as some were hoping for but it is certainly a welcome step forward," he said. | "Halving the tolls is not as much as some were hoping for but it is certainly a welcome step forward," he said. |
| Welsh Lib Dem leader Kirsty Williams said the cut was "pathetic" and called for the tolls to be scrapped. | |
| "The Chancellor is cynically acting as if he is doing commuters a favour, but the fact is that he wants to keep this unfair tax on entering Wales," she said. | |
| Plaid Cymru economy spokesman Rhun ap Iorwerth said his party would also aim to remove the tolls. | |
| "The Severn bridges are of strategic importance and it is vital that they operate in a manner which helps rather than hinders Wales' economic development," he said. | |
| In his eighth budget, Mr Osborne also said ministers would open discussions on a proposed £500m Swansea Bay City Region investment deal involving ultra-fast broadband and technology companies. | |
| The chancellor added that a north Wales "growth deal" would be explored to ensure it was "better connected to our Northern Powerhouse" project in England. | |
| On Tuesday, a £1.2bn Cardiff Capital Region deal was signed to pay for transport improvements and other major schemes. | |
| Welsh Secretary Stephen Crabb said the budget "shows the scale of ambition this government has for Wales". | |
| However, Labour's Shadow Welsh Secretary Nia Griffith said it was "not a budget that had the interests of Wales at its heart". | |
| "George Osborne ducked the big challenges that our economy faces and instead announced that ordinary people in Wales will face yet more cuts," she said. | |
| Jane Hutt, the Welsh Government's finance minister, said the extra funding for Wales "does not reverse six years of austerity". |