LAST month I led an Assembly debate to scrap the Severn Bridge tolls, raised this issue at First Minister’s Questions, and highlighted the Assembly’s legal scope to act during Scrutiny of the First Minister Committee.

The Severn Bridge tolls, going up again next month, hopefully for the last time, are the highest, most unfair and most damaging in Britain. The tolls are a barrier to visiting and doing business in Wales. UKIP is campaigning for them to be abolished.

By the end of next year the sum agreed of £1.029 billion at 1989 prices for the concession and building of the southern bridge will be paid off.

At that point UKIP believes tolling should end. Instead, the UK government has announced that it will continue to impose a toll of half the current level.

The Welsh government appeared to be accepting the UK government plan, or at least not planning to challenge it, meekly noting the UK minister did not want to devolve ownership of the bridges.

Now, following UKIP’s work in the Assembly, the Welsh government has agreed to review its positions and legal powers. UK government ownership of the Severn Bridges does not necessarily mean that is has the power to continue tolling them.

UK powers to toll the bridge under the Severn Bridges Act 1992 are strictly limited. After their return to the public sector the UK Transport Secretary can only set tolls to recover certain sums, including a claimed £64 million debt on the northern bridge.

The total amount the UK government is able to recover through tolls is estimated at £88 million. Once the bridges have returned to the public sector by the end of next year, a toll at half the current level should raise that sum by late-2019.

I am not convinced that the UK government has the legal power to continue tolling after late-2019, given that and the southern bridge is half in Wales. The Government of Wales Act 2006 gives the legal power to toll trunk roads and motorways in Wales to the Welsh Assembly. The Transport Act 2000 provides for a joint road charging scheme between the Welsh Assembly and UK Government.

Our agreement may thus be needed if tolling is to continue after 2019. Since the Welsh Assembly has now voted for my UKIP motion to scrap the Severn tolls, I believe we should now look forward to abolishing the tolls, if not next year, then by 2019.