Pressure is mounting on the Welsh Government ahead of a key announcement on Newport’s M4 junctions, with Reform UK the latest party to back the South Wales Argus‘ Hands Off Our Junctions campaign.

The campaign was launched this week amid concerns that motorway junction closures could still be considered as part of plans to tackle congestion around the Brynglas tunnels.

The Argus is calling on ministers to rule out closing Newport junctions and publish the evidence behind proposals affecting motorists, businesses and communities.

The Welsh Government is expected to unveil the next stage of its plans later today, with Newport waiting to learn whether junction closures remain on the table.

The campaign has won backing from local Labour and Conservative politicians and drawn a strong response from readers worried about closures hitting journeys to work, schools, hospitals and businesses.

Now Reform UK politicians from South Wales have added their support.

Regional Reform MSs Dan Thomas, Laura Anne Jones, Art Wright and Stephen Senior said:

“We in Reform have been clear from the beginning: we would build the desperately needed M4 relief road. The failure to build one by Labour and Plaid has imposed huge costs on commuters, freight, and the wider Welsh economy.

“Plaid’s solution to congestion seems to be to close M4 junctions, which is wholly unacceptable. It is plain to see that the solution must be a relief road, which only Reform will build, and so we in Reform are more than happy to back the Argus’ Hands Off Our Junctions campaign.”

The comments follow Jason O’Connell, Reform Wales’ Shadow Cabinet Minister for Economy and Transport, backing the campaign and saying motorists and businesses had been “shocked” by junction-closure proposals. He said an M4 relief road remained the answer to congestion.

Both Reform UK and the Welsh Conservatives now say a relief road, not motorway-junction closures, is the best way to tackle congestion around the Brynglas tunnels.

Darren Millar MS, Leader of the Welsh Conservatives, told the Argus afterwards:

“My colleague Natasha Asghar and the Welsh Conservative team are opposed to closing junctions on the M4, which would simply move congestion around and create bottlenecks elsewhere in and around Newport.”

Natasha Asghar, MS for Casnewydd Islwyn, said,

“We’ve had nearly 30 years of dithering and inaction from Labour while the costs of a relief road have continued to rise.

 “The Plaid Cymru Welsh Government urgently needs to green light an M4 relief road to increase capacity on the main arterial route through South Wales before costs rise even further.”

(Pictures: Mapillary; South Wales Argus)