MPs clash over Severn
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• MPs have clashed in the Commons over the increase in Severn Bridge toils. The cost of taking a truck over the bridge shot up last month from £2 each way to £8.40, payable only on entering Wales.
Newport Labour MP Roy Hughes said the tolls were an anachronism which should be phased out. He called for firms within a 20-mile radius of the bridge to be given a 50% reduction on the tolls.
He added that the increases would lead to extra costs being imposed on Tesco, which has a distribution centre near the bridge, and higher prices in its supermarkets. Bus firms facing higher tolls would also be forced to raise their fares.
He said that van drivers now had to pay £5.40, instead of the car rate as before. This was "especially damaging to one-man businesses".
But, in his first Commons speech in his new job, Roads and Traffic Minister Kenneth Carlisle defended the rises. He said they were needed to fund a second Severn crossing by 1996, which is to be built by the private sector.
"The current arrangements and the drive that is going ahead to provide the bridge, which is being paid for by those who use it, are the right approach," he told MPs. "They will be widely welcomed by local people, who do not want quibbling and delay."