Here's the latest Politics File by Argus politics reporter Ian Craig:

WHEN the M4 relief road was scrapped we learned £114 million has been spent on the project, despite not a single yard of tarmac being laid.

That's £114 million which could have been spent on schools, hospitals, social care, support for the homeless, anti-pollution measures, or even dealing with traffic jams - thrown in bin.

What we didn't know was how exactly that money had been spent.

That was, until figures were released last week breaking down just how the £114 million was dished out.

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The biggest figure by far is the £80.01 million spent on a joint scheme developing the so-called black route proposals - which is not much of a surprise if you've ever seen an invoice from a consultancy firm. But possibly most baffling is that £10.72 million was spent on buying up land where the road would have been built - land the Welsh Government is now presumably just sitting on.

This brings into sharp focus just how much money has been wasted. Every year we see our council tax go up and vital services cut because councils are struggling under continued budget cuts from the Welsh Government, which itself takes every opportunity to remind us it is funded by Westminster.

So in this situation throwing away £114 million - over the space of six years or otherwise - on a road that never got built is a breathtaking waste of money.

Even the most vehement of opponents to the relief road would agree we can't afford to go around throwing this much money in the bin.

And of course this is not to mention that if and when an alternative is agreed upon, this itself will cost a fair whack - and probably significantly more than £114 million if anything actually gets built.

With other scrapped schemes such as the Circuit of Wales still fresh in the memory, the Welsh Government isn't gaining the best reputation when it comes to using taxpayer's money.

One would at least hope all the land it bought up will be sold off for at least the same amount it was bought for - or maybe even a nice little profit.

But the Welsh Government hardly has a great record when it comes to land sales so don't be surprised to see a headline in the Argus this time next year saying they've sold the whole lot off for £2.50 and a some magic beans.

South Wales Argus:

Conservative leadership candidates Boris Johnson and Jeremy Hunt. Pictures: Alastair Grant/Yui Mok/PA Wire

In the meantime, the field in the Conservative Party leadership race has been whittled down to two, with Michael Gove falling at the final hurdle probably the biggest shock of the contest so far.

There's little point in rehearing the arguments around allowing fewer than 200,000 people - the overwhelmingly majority of whom are white and well-off retirees - to pick the leader of our country - others can and have done far more eloquently than I.

So kudos to South Wales East AM Mohammad Asghar, who's asked for constituents' views on who he should support, and has promised to cast his vote for whoever the people of his region are most in favour of.

South Wales Argus:

Mohammad Asghar

Assuming he makes good on his promise - which he has assured us he will - this is an all-too-rare example of a politician making sure they're doing what the people who elected them actually want.

Yes, the point is the person elected has a mandate from the people and if free to act as they see fit. But how often do you hear of a politician doing the exact opposite of what the people who have elected them have made very clear they want?

It's no massive revelation to point out that, while every area in Gwent except Monmouth voted to leave the EU, the majority of AMs and MPs in the area have continued to campaign - some more vocally than others - against leaving the EU.

Meanwhile, Monmouth's David Davies has remained steadfast in his anti-EU stance, despite his constituents apparently wanting to remain.

Yes, we could spend all day rehearing arguments on lies told during the referendum and whether opinions have changed over the past three years, but the fact is we had a vote, which the people we elected to represent us apparently don't think they need to abide by.

So credit to Mr Asghar - at least the people of Gwent will have some small say in who moves into Number 10 next month.

South Wales Argus:

Ex-Brecon and Radnorshire MP Chris Davies. Picture: Victoria Jones/PA Wire

Meanwhile, just up the road in Brecon and Radnorshire, Conservative MP Chris Davies has been turfed out after admitting fiddling his expenses - which, depending on who you ask, was either an honest mistake or a nefarious attempt to cheat the system - triggering a by-election.

And this could prove a decisive vote for the party - already hanging on to power by the thinnest of threads.

The constituency was represented by the Lib Dems in Parliament from 1997 until 2015, and has repeatedly re-elected Lib Dem AM Kirsty Williams since the Assembly was founded in 1999. So the party's recent resurgence at the ballot box could mean it's on course to take back the seat. Or maybe the Brexit Party could build on its European Election success and win its first Parliamentary seat - bearing in mind the consistency is in the leave-voting area of Powys.

Yes, the Tories might retain the seat, but the fact that enough people in the consistency voted to turf Mr Davies out and hold a by-election doesn't bode to well for the party - it'll have to put everything it's got into getting their man re-elected at a time when it's already spread more than a little thin.

And with a new leader to take up the reins in a matter of weeks, the timing couldn't be worse. The by-election is to be held on August 1 - just nine days after the prime minister is elected. The party losing a seat almost as soon as Mr Johnson or Mr Hunt take up the top job isn't exactly the best start.