Tories pledge to finish Labour’s ‘conflict on the driving force’ with Ulez reversal

The Tories plan to launch a clampdown on ‘anti-driver’ measures including urban 20mph zones and low-traffic neighbourhoods, and roll back the Ulez car tax in London if they win the election. 

Rishi Sunak today pledges to introduce a Backing Drivers Bill in the first session of the next Parliament that would give local residents the power to call local referenda on contentious car control schemes.

It would also reverse last year’s expansion of the capital’s Ultra Low Emission Zone to cover all London boroughs, returning it to its original inner-city boundaries.

Writing for MailOnline, Transport Secretary Mark Harper today accuses Labour of seeking to ‘force [drivers] off the roads’ if Sir Keir Starmer becomes prime minister.

He also brands the £12.50 daily Ulez charge affecting drivers of non-compliant vehicles an ‘aggressive and regressive tax on drivers, enforced by an Orwellian array of surveillance cameras, punishes the poorest drivers unable to afford a new car.’

‘We have frozen fuel duty 14 years in a row, saving the average family thousands of pounds. We have invested hundreds of millions to make our most dangerous roads safer. And we’ve committed to pour billions of savings from HS2 into filling the potholes and resurfacing the roads,’ he said.

Ever the backseat driver, Keir Starmer has opposed these at every turn.  So in an age of aggressively anti-driver local politics from the Left, we will continue to actively champion the driver at every turn.’

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak took aim at Labour leaders in Westminster and Cardiff Bay, who he accused of launching a ‘war on drivers’. Wales has led the way in bringing in 20mph zones.

But the Tories argue at while they can help improve road safety in residential areas or outside schools, ‘misuse undermines public trust and risks congestion and pollution’.

The new law would introduce the right to put new schemes to a local referendum and to challenge existing ones. 

Drivers of the most polluting vehicles must pay a £12.50 daily charge if they use almost any road within Greater London, on top of any tolls or the inner London Congestion Charge. Drivers of Ulez-compliant vehicles do not have to pay the fee.

According to Mayor of London figures from October last year, 95 per cent of vehicles on the capital’s roads are ‘compliant with clean air standards’ – up from 39 per cent in 2017.

Imperial College London, commissioned by City Hall, found that ‘toxic air’ contributed to around 4,000 premature deaths in the capital.

But the policy proved controversial when Mr Khan fronted its expansion to cover outer London boroughs last year – into areas such as Bromley, Croydon, Heathrow Airport and Wembley.

It previously covered the area between the A406 North Circular and A205 South Circular roads.

Vandals are known to have damaged Ulez cameras and signage, while anti-Ulez protesters have gathered on several occasions in Parliament Square, Trafalgar Square and Strand.

However Mr Khan still won an historic third time at the mayoral election in May. A spokesman for the mayor said: ‘This is desperate stuff from the Tories – a party completely devoid of ideas.’

The Welsh Government reduced the restricted roads ‘default’ speed from 30mph to 20mph in December last year, in built-up areas including villages, towns and cities.

But after a backlash in April Labour’s Cabinet Secretary for Transport, Ken Skates, announced a ‘programme of listening’ until July this year, and will produce new policy guidance for the autumn. 

It came after more than half a million signatures were added to a Senedd petition opposing the divisive policy aimed at reducing carbon emissions.

‘There is generally universal support for 20mph being targeted in areas where there are schools, built up areas like housing estates, and outside hospitals and so-forth,’ Mr Skates told North Wales Live.

‘But in many areas, routes that shouldn’t have been included, were.’

Wherever Labour is in power, we can see their thirst to frustrate, delay and tax drivers cannot be quenched, says Mark Harper, Transport Secretary

Conservatives are on the side of drivers. The Labour Party will find any way possible to force them off the roads.

I know that for many who live in towns and villages across the UK, the car is an essential mode of transport. Something city-obsessed Labour don’t seem to understand, or simply don’t care about.

All you have to do is look at our respective records. Wherever Labour is in power, we can see their thirst to frustrate, delay and tax drivers cannot be quenched.

In Labour-run Wales, they are waging all-out war on the driver. Between blanket 20mph zones costing the economy billions and a ban on all new road infrastructure projects being built, the driver is being demonised.

In Labour-run London, Sadiq Khan expanded the ULEZ even to areas where a car is an essential not a luxury. This aggressive and regressive tax on drivers, enforced by an Orwellian array of surveillance cameras, punishes the poorest drivers unable to afford a new car.

Traffic piles up in areas of London due to poorly designed low traffic neighbourhoods that don’t have local consent.

Whereas, we have offered a secure future for drivers with our Plan for Drivers. We have made clear that it is not right that drivers feel under attack and have offered long term bold action to make their lives better.

We have frozen fuel duty 14 years in a row, saving the average family thousands of pounds. We have invested hundreds of millions to make our most dangerous roads safer. And we’ve committed to pour billions of savings from HS2 into filling the potholes and resurfacing the roads.

Ever the backseat driver, Keir Starmer has opposed these at every turn.

So in an age of aggressively anti-driver local politics from the left, we will continue to actively champion the driver at every turn.

That is why if re-elected, we will introduce a new ‘Backing Drivers Bill’ to cement the rights of drivers in law as soon as we can.

We will unilaterally reverse Sadiq Khan’s unfair ULEZ expansion in London.

We will ban any kind of pay-per- mile scheme from appearing. The last Labour government tried to implement it., We will stop it.

Finally, we will empower local people to have a vote on any new LTNs or blanket 20mph schemes and a right to challenge existing ones because it is local people who should decide what’s best for their area.

These are not decisions that we take lightly, and I fully expect the anti-driver left to be up in arms about it. And that will tell you everything you need to know about whose side they’re actually on.

So there is a clear choice. Getting around quicker, cheaper and more freely with the Conservative’s plan for drivers and record of bold action or getting stuck in the slow lane with Labour.