Conservatives: Bold action to back drivers

The Conservatives are today (Saturday 8^th June) announcing that if elected, they will stop pay-per-mile road taxes, rule out blanket Low Traffic Neighbourhoods and 20mph zones and reverse Labour's unfair ULEZ expansion in London. 

Through a ‘Backing Drivers Bill' in the first session, the Conservatives will build on last autumn's Plan for Drivers with a package of bold measures which will protect drivers from the draconian policies of local Labour politicians. Unnecessary restrictions have made travel harder for people and curbed individual freedoms. These measures will reverse this trend. 

Sadiq Khan's unpopular ULEZ expansion charges thousands of people living around London who had no say in his election and can now no longer afford to get to hospital appointments or where they work or study. So the Conservatives will take bold action to protect drivers and reverse it.  

Pay-per-mile road taxes are one of the most worrying proposals currently being explored by local Labour politicians. They could see drivers charged depending on how far they drive, what time of day and what car they drive it in. Labour looked at a national scheme last time they were in Government. This Bill will make sure they can never be introduced. 

While 20mph zones can help improve road safety in residential areas or outside schools, misuse undermines public trust and risks congestion and pollution, so we are clear they must only be considered on a road-by-road basis, and with the support of people who live there. 

So the Conservatives will rule out blanket Low Traffic Neighbourhoods and 20mph zones which have been so damaging to businesses. Under these plans, local people will be newly empowered with any new schemes subject to a local referendum and a right to challenge existing schemes. These measures will also apply in Wales where the Welsh Labour Government has ignored the views of the public and imposed blanket 20mph speed limits.  

This builds on the Conservatives' strong track record of backing drivers. Measures like freezing fuel duty for 14 years in a row, saving the average household £1,000, publishing the milestone Plan for Drivers and putting hundreds of millions into the Safer Roads Fund. As well as building over 1,100 of new and upgraded major roads, after years of neglect under the last Labour Government.  

We are also committed to invest £8.3 billion of HS2 savings to repair roads and fix potholes. Funding at risk under Labour who would take us back to square one. 

In towns and villages across the UK, the car is an essential mode of transport. In recent years it has been increasingly difficult to get around by car due to the actions of local Labour politicians. This clear plan for drivers will reverse this trend for a secure future for drivers.  

Rishi Sunak, Prime Minister, said: 

“We are the party on the side of drivers. That's why we have a clear plan to keep motoring costs under control and ensure people have the freedom to drive as they need to lead their daily lives. 

“We will empower drivers and local residents to challenge aggressive and punitive traffic-inducing measures, like low traffic neighbourhoods that were imposed without local consent. 

“That's the clear choice in this election – between Labour who have launched a war on drivers in London and Wales, and our clear plan to give drivers the freedom they need to build a secure future for themselves and their children.” 

Mark Harper, Transport Secretary, said:

“ We will continue to build on our clear plan for drivers and make sure they are supported in the face of Labour politicians desperate to tax them off the roads.   

“We will reverse Sadiq Khan's unfair ULEZ expansion and rule out any blanket 20 mile an hour zones because we are on drivers' side. And we will rule out any pay-per-mile road tax to keep costs for drivers down.

“There's a clear choice at this election – Labour who will continue to penalise drivers or the Conservatives who will back drivers.” 

ENDS 

Notes to Editors 

[i] DfT, News Story, 17 November 2023. 

Our Plan for Drivers 

In our first King's Speech, we will introduce a ‘Backing Drivers Bill' that will: 

• Stop pay-per-mile road taxes.  Under a pay-per-mile road tax scheme you could be charged for how far you drive, what car you drive and at what time of day. The Mayor of London has instructed Transport for London to look at such proposals (Project Detroit). The last Labour Government looked at pay-per-mile road taxing but backed down after 1.8 million people signed a petition opposing it. We believe it is not fair for drivers to penalised for each journey they take, or for the Government to dictate how far you drive. This is particularly the case for rural communities who are often more reliant on their cars. A Conservative Government will not introduce pay-per-mile road taxes and will ban Mayors and local councils from doing so.

• Reverse Labour's unfair ULEZ expansion. Sadiq Khan's ULEZ tax rise only has a "moderate" or "minor" effect on pollution - but taxes poorer drivers off the road. Because it hits thousands of people living around London who can no longer afford to get to work, to study or to hospital appointments, but had no say in his election, we will reverse it.

• Rule out, top-down, blanket Low Traffic Neighbourhoods (LTN) and 20mph zones by stipulating that any new schemes must be subject to a referendum. Independent research into LTNs showed only 13% of residents responded to council planning consultations, and just 18% felt their views had influenced local decisions. Meanwhile LTNs were issuing an average of 36,000 penalty notices a year, with the highest issuing 170,000 penalties. While 20mph zones can help improve road safety in residential areas or outside schools, misuse undermines public trust and risks congestion and pollution, so we are clear they must only be considered on a road-by-road basis, and with the support of people who live there. We will require any new schemes to be put to a local referendum in the wards affected with the result binding on councils.

• Introduce a ‘right to challenge' for existing LTN and 20mph schemes. Where local residents can trigger a local referendum in affected wards if there is sufficient local concern. Residents will trigger a local referendum by signing a petition. If 15% of those living in affected wards sign it, then a referendum of those living in affected wards would be held with the result binding on councils.

We will make sure these measures extend to Wales:  

• We will apply these measures to Wales, where Labour's blanket 20mph policy has cost millions and incited a record-breaking petition in opposition to it. The Welsh Government introduced a default 20mph speed limit at a cost of £32 million in September 2023, despite strong opposition. It is estimated to have a £4.5 billion negative impact on the Welsh economy. Since Vaughan Gething came into office, the Welsh Government have reluctantly agreed to a listening exercise but this does not go far enough – we will extend our ‘Backing Drivers Bill' to Wales to  devolve decision-making still further, by giving local communities a legal right to challenge 20mph schemes in their areas and require local referendums for any new ones to be introduced in future. The mechanism for doing so will be as set out above for schemes in London.

Costings 

LTNs: There should be no proactive cost if this is not retrospective, given LAs should not be factoring in the income from fines or punitive schemes.  There would be small costs for conducting local referendums, with these minimal costs borne by local taxpayers. In practice most councils would be dissuaded from embarking on unpopular schemes, which could even generate a small saving overall. 

Pay-per-mile road taxes: no direct cost as no pay-per-mile road tax revenue is assumed in future forecasts, and fuel duty receipts are forecast to continue increasing over the coming years.  

ULEZ: Reversing ULEZ expansion would, according to TFL's own figures revealed through an FOI, cost £80m if introduced from April 2025, a realistic assumption given the need for primary legislation. TfL expect the expansion to raise nothing from 2026/7, leaving no long-term costs. (TfL figures sourced from FOI request) The Mayor could of course reverse the expansion at any time, removing the need for this legislation. We would expect the Mayor to deal with the lost revenue, noting this is far less than he was wasted on vanity projects, and that Government has provided £6.6bn of support for TfL since 2020. 

 Government record since 2010 

• Publishing The Plan for Drivers, outlining steps to help drivers and stating it is not right that drivers feel under attack by certain campaigns. Our Plan for Drivers makes clear the Conservatives' are on the side of drivers and sought to offer long-term solutions to issues drivers face such as over-zealous use of traffic enforcement measures (DfT, Policy Paper, 2 October 2023, link).

• Investing £8.3 billion of redirected HS2 funding to deliver long-term funding settlements to local authorities to improve road quality, saving the average driver £440 in car repairs. Because of the long-term decision we took to redirect HS2 funding into more projects in more places, local authorities will receive a share of £8.3 billion over the next eleven years for road repairs on top of existing settlements. This funding is enough to resurface over 5,000 miles of road (DfT, News Story, 17 November 2023, link). 

• Boosting the Safer Roads Fund by £50 million, having already invested £100 million to fix 50 of the country's most dangerous roads. We have boosted the Safer Roads Fund by £50 million to fix 27 of the country's most dangerous roads. The fund has already invested £100 million to fix 50 roads but we are now going further to protect road users (DfT, News Story, 6 April 2023, link). 

• Giving drivers more time to switch to electric vehicles, recognising the progress we have made to cut emissions and as we stick to the plan to deliver net zero. Because we have made great progress in cutting emissions, we are able to give drivers more time to switch to electric vehicles whilst sticking to our plan to cut emissions. Drivers will now be able to buy new petrol and diesel cars until 2035 (PMO, Authored article, 20 September 2023, link).

• Delivering the first nationwide injunction against climate activists who block our key roads, standing on the side of working people as we grow the economy. We are making use of every avenue of law to prevent the life-endangering action being carried out by protestors, which is causing disruption to workers' lives and livelihoods (DfT, News Story, 26 October 2021, link)

• Freezing fuel duty for the fourteenth consecutive year, saving families over £1,000 since 2010. Since 2010, we have frozen fuel duty for fourteen consecutive years and maintained the five pence cut for an extra year. The support is available for much longer than has been the case in many countries and represents around £13 billion over three years and £250 for the average car driver. (HM Treasury, Spring Budget Speech 2024, 6 March 2024, link)

While other parties would take us back to square one... 

• The Welsh Labour Government are spending over £30 million to roll out blanket 20mph speed limits which will cost the Welsh economy billions, a decision that will take us back to square one. 20mph speed limits have cost over £30 million to rollout and the Welsh Government's own analysis of their plans shows that the project could cost the Welsh economy up to £4.5 billion. Following widespread opposition, they have reluctantly agreed to a listening exercise but this does not go far enough (Welsh Government, FAQ, 17 May 2024, link; Explanatory Memorandum, 21 June 2022, p32, link; Senedd Research, 24 April 2024, link).

• Welsh Labour are refusing to build any new roads. Welsh Labour have said that all new road-building projects in Wales are being frozen while they conduct a review, including plans for the Deeside ‘Red Route', the Llandeilo bypass, and a third Anglesey crossing (Welsh Government, Press Release, 22 June 2021, link).

• Welsh Labour are also scheming to introduce road charging. The Environment Act expanded Welsh Labour's powers to introduce road charging schemes on trunk roads, and their Infrastructure Bill includes more powers around road tolls (Environment (Wales) Act: Section 22, link; BBC News, 21 November 2023, link; Infrastructure (Wales) Bill: Section 77, link; Aberdare Online, 19 March 2024, link; Senedd Record, 3 October 2023, link).

• Sadiq Khan's ULEZ expansion charged drivers £26 million in the first month, as more than 57,000 vehicles were penalised for being used. Transport for London raised £26 million in the first month of the Sadiq Khan's ULEZ expansion, with more than 57,000 vehicles charges each day for use (The Evening Standard, 1 November 2023, link).

• Keir Starmer referred to funding roads and transport as a ‘political choice'. He said the Government had made a ‘political choice' to spend transport budgets on roads, not seeming to recognise that low and zero carbon emission vehicles still need to drive on something (The Guardian, 1 April 2020, link).

• Labour voted against our proposals to stop protestors gluing themselves to roads. Labour and the Liberal Democrats defeated a clause in the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill which would have made it an offence to obstruct a highway (Hansard, 17 January 2022, link).

• The Liberal Democrats want to increase road tax – slamming struggling drivers with massive bills. The Liberal Democrats are calling for ‘graduating Vehicle Excise Duty by fuel efficiency and increasing rates for fossil fuel vehicles overall'. Electric cars are already exempt, so this would mean an overall increase in road tax that especially hits the least well off who cannot afford to upgrade their cars to the latest model (Liberal Democrats, F12 Tackling the Climate Emergency: Proposals for Carbon Pricing, accessed 18 September 2021, link; ONS, Price Inflation, 18 May 2022, link). 

• Labour looked at pay-per-mile road taxes when they were last in Government, In 2005, the then Labour Government proposed pay-per-mile road taxes at a price of up to £1.34 pay-per-mile at peak.  The proposal was dropped in 2007, following a 1.8m signature petition.  Whilst London Mayor Sadiq Khan has recently denied plans to introduce per-mile congestion charging, he has previously advocated pay-per-mile charging.

• Liberal Democrats have long advocated various forms of pay-per-mile road taxes, most recently at their conference in 2023.