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news
Southfields LTN in LB Ealing (picture Simon MacMichael)Rishi Sunak pledges to “stop war on motorists” and review LTNs
Rishi Sunak – who as Chancellor of the Exchequer not only pursued the same policy as Conservative predecessors in the post for the past 12 years in freezing fuel duty, but earlier this year actually cut it – has pledged to halt what he says is “the war on motorists” if elected leader of the party next month, which would see him succeed Boris Johnson as Prime Minister.
The Tory politician also said he would review low traffic neighbourhoods (LTNs) which aim to stop rat-running drivers use residential streets as short cuts to avoid congestion, halt the rollout of smart motorways, and tighten regulation of private parking contractors, reports Wales Online.
Sunak, who trails Liz Truss in the polls in the leadership contest which will be decided by Conservative Party members, has been described by his supporters as the “most pro-driver Chancellor in history.”
He said: “The UK is a passionate driving nation because driving provides freedom.
“We need to stop making life difficult for the vast majority of people across the UK who rely on a car as their primary source of transport to healthcare, employment and other essential day-to-day things.
“As Chancellor, I introduced the largest cut to fuel duty in a generation, and as Prime Minister I will go further so that we stop the war on motorists once and for all.”
His plans to review LTNs are said to be based on his belief that they impede police, fire and ambulance vehicles, despite what Cycling UK has described as “clear evidence” to the contrary and the fact they are supported by the emergency services themselves.
> “Clear evidence” does not support “flat earther” LTN 999 delay headlines, says Cycling UK
His comments come at the end of a week in which former cabinet colleague, Transport Secretary Grant Shapps, suggested that cyclists should be required to carry third-party insurance, be subject to the same speed limits as motorists, and have number plates on their bikes – although he subsequently rowed back on that latter point.
> “No plans to introduce registration plates” for cyclists, insists Grant Shapps
At the height of the pandemic, Shapps and Johnson strongly promoted cycling and walking as a key part of the country’s recovery and encouraged councils to set up LTNs – a policy opposed by many of their own MPs, as well as a number of Tory-run local authorities and whichever of Truss or Sunak gets the keys to Number 10 Downing Street next month, it is highly unlikely that support active travel will be high up their agenda.
Simon joined road.cc as news editor in 2009 and is now the site’s community editor, acting as a link between the team producing the content and our readers. A law and languages graduate, published translator and former retail analyst, he has reported on issues as diverse as cycling-related court cases, anti-doping investigations, the latest developments in the bike industry and the sport’s biggest races. Now back in London full-time after 15 years living in Oxford and Cambridge, he loves cycling along the Thames but misses having his former riding buddy, Elodie the miniature schnauzer, in the basket in front of him.
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Maybe road.cc can explain why they censored the thread?
Until then, given past form, it's entirely reasonable to believe it was politically motivated.
Sunak is quite right about The War on Motorists (TM).
The way that new roads are marked out with white paint along the edges of expansive cycleways, making motorists give way at every junction, making them get out and push their cars just for the convenience of cyclists, building huge direct long distance routes using their taxes but not letting them drive on them, writing off billions of pounds of tax revenue / providing billions of pounds of subsidy (your choice how to phrase it) to make life easier and more affordable for cyclists. I could go on...
Yep - it's a war on motorists...
(edited)
What "war" on motorists? There seems to have been a complete truce. How else can motorists brazenly go about with no front number plate, or illegible (obscured) plates? Or blacked out front windows? Or no MOT/insurance. Or illegal deafening exhausts? These offences are trivial to detect, and simply impounding the car until remedial action was invoiced would soon put a stop to it, even without the need to prosecute.
More of a total surrender than a truce. As far as I can tell, most motor vehicle journeys contain multiple breaches of the law and there is close to zero enforcement.
It's less "you don't shoot at me and I won't shoot at you" and more rolling over for a tummy tickle.
War on motorists == trying to make the majority follow the law and HWC.
I mean, how sneaky having speed cameras that catch motorists speeding - why paint them yellow and signpost them when the simple answer is to stick to the speed limit, but even that is too much of an imposition.
And don't forget the legal mandate to advertise where the mobile ones are setup as well.
"A tax on law abiding motorists" - If law abiding they won't get flashed or ticketed.
"They will cause accidents when a car suddnely has to brake when he sees one" - Why would a car need to suddenly brake if they are maintaining the legal speed. And the car behind should also be maintaining a distance to enable stopping if suddenly happens by the vehicle in front.
"There should be strict places they can be put" - Why? They are there to maintain the laws of the road, it shouldn't really matter where they go, although places where speeding has caused lots of accidents should probably also have speeds reduced and traffic calming put in as well.
I for one am looking forward to enforcement of 20mph limits on our streets.
I for one am looking forward to enforcement of 20mph limits on our streets
I share your scepticism when, through idleness and/or corruption, they refuse to enforce absence of MOT and insurance, illegal plates made for deception, RLJs, DWL crossing etc. etc
Well by all counts Truss will win this; most Tory voters loved Boris and could not bring themselves to vote for the man who orchestrated his removal from office.
But it's not the war on the motorist I'm worried about given the awful job she did on that last trip to Russia.
Is there a war ON the motorist? Feels more like a way BY the motorist.
and as for freedom, what about freedom to breathe fresh air, freedom to travel safely, freedom of kids to use streets safely, etc wtc
Freedom to fantasise until you get some responsibilities. Then freedom to sit in a traffic jam in your own space, not on public transport. Freedom from being a sucker for rail and bus companies to overcharge - you're free to choose which vehicle, fuel seller and insurer to pay instead. Freedom to go door-to-door, at your own pace, anywhere, anytime - as long as you can find a parking spot *. Freedom from being threatened by speeding vehicles as a pedestrian, you only need to give up the convenience of a direct route and being able to go at your own pace. And accessibility to some places. Oh, and actually that's not a guarantee of safety. Freedom from the fear that something will happen to your kids going to and from school / activities - in exchange for your kids being reliant on you to get anywhere.
I think that covers some of it. Don't forget that we / our ancestors all chose this too. Albeit there weren't so many strings attached back then. This was also pushed strongly by both businesses and our governments.
* parking spot is defined more flexibly by some!
"We need to stop making life difficult for the vast majority of people across the UK who rely on a car as their primary source of transport to healthcare, employment and other essential day-to-day things."
Surely, the people making it difficult for people making essential journeys is primarily those making non essential journeys including short trips to get a pint from the local store which they probably would have walked if they felt the streets were safer . Amazing that supposedly intelligent are prepared to say really stupid stuff to get power that they will use to make central government smaller, give more power to big business and generally maintain the status quo.
Until the future makes our current choices redundant I'd say we *do* need to make using a car for many journeys less convenient *. Or at least it must be less convenient than eg cycling short trips / public transport. Walking, cycling and public transport all have certain advantages for people. So we just need to correct things so these don't get trumped / people don't default to driving.
This *is* something we can learn from elsewhere e.g. I believe driving is actually quite pleasant and convenient in the NL.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=d8RRE2rDw4k
* That is - we need change *IF* if we accept all the other things even the government says are important eg. climate change / pollution / resilience / local economic sustainability / health / better provision for the poor, the young, the disabled, the old ...
The manifesto from the actual election is still legally binding, they have no mandate outside of that.
"legally binding"? I must have missed it when they introduced that law.
No manifesto promise is legally binding in any way whatsoever. There's a credible school of thought that says they should be, but at the moment, no. A candidate/party could win an election on the promise that they were going to go back into Europe or leave Nato or whatever and turn around the day after and say we've changed our minds and there would be nothing to hold them to their previous promise.
An election manifesto is no more legally binding than words written on the side of a big red bus. It's a simple statement of intent at the moment it was printed, nothing more (and might not even be that...).
Worst past the post.
So now there's a choice between Thick Lizzie and venal Rishi.
I thought that Rishi was the least worst option, but now they are both impossibly influenced by special interest groups. I suppose the best we can hope for is that Thick Lizzie wins and is so dreadful that the tories will be slung out at the next election and stay out for a generation.
That's my hope too. We're stuck with whoever's chosen until 2024, Sunak is clever enough and slick enough to convince people to vote for him, Truss is just going to be a car crash from the minute she walks into No.10. I'm sure if Starmer and his team were asked whom they'd sooner face over the despatch box and in an election they'd go for Truss hands down.
If only I had the slightest faith in Starmer, but he's just tory light. Under any other leader, labour would be at least twenty points ahead in the opinion polls, but he's so uninspiring that they're barely ahead of the worst lying, cheating, hypocritical government ever.
If only we could go back in time to when we had upstanding, honest leaders who were not lying, cheating and hypocritical and worked hard to improve the lives of regular people and not just their cronies, like Thatcher, Major, Blair and Cameron.
Whoever our next PM is it will just be more of the same and if your life is improved by them at all it will be purley a coincidence.
We did have one, but he was the subject of the biggest character assassination the world has ever seen, and stabbed in the back by his own party; Corbyn. After all, an honest, empathetic politician working for the people couldn't be tolerated by the establishment could it?
Apologies - started reading that description and thought you were about to reveal a soft spot for Trump! Biggest witch hunt ever...
Glad I wasn't the only one he fooled 😂
Agreed, if big business and their media minions can't control you you'll never become PM. Same with Bernie Sanders in the US.
That's why I don't have any faith in any PM of any party. They are working for the people who got them there, and I don't mean the voters.
Nobody who wants political power should be allowed to get it, rather they should be reluctant public servants however the list of applicants is going to be short...
Perhaps we should define what's acceptable or not, and actually enforce that code of conduct, in the knowledge that some ambition is required to solve hard problems.
That might be a start, We could also ban politicians from buying shares and having directorships or lobbying jobs and all lobbying of politicians or civil servents could be fully disclosed and the details made available to the pubic.
Yeah my aspirations in no way indicate great hopes for Starmer - I'd sooner have a socialist - but anything's better than another five years of Tory rule.
Indeed, but "not quite as bad as the worst tory government ever" is hardly inspiring.
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