The Conservative party has launched its manifesto for the 2024 election, pledging to support working people and also drivers with a wave of measures.
The ‘Clear Plan, Bold Action, Secure Future’ manifesto sets out plans on “lower immigration, lower taxes and protected pensions” and includes headline pledges such as a further 2p cut for employee National Insurance and a bid to abolish the main rate of self-employed National Insurance.
Launched at Silverstone racing circuit in Northamptonshire, the 80-page document also includes some standout measures for motorists – in particular, a pledge to introduce a Backing Drivers’ Bill in the party’s first King’s Speech that would ‘stop’ road pricing.
It adds: “A Conservative Government will not introduce pay-per-mile road pricing and will ban Mayors and local councils from doing so.”
The bill would also reverse “Labour’s unfair ULEZ expansion in London”. The Tories said the Sadiq Khan’s ‘ULEZ tax rise’ only has a ‘moderate’ or ‘minor’ effect on pollution and the ULEZ expansion meant thousands of people living around London “can now no longer afford to get to hospital appointments or where they work or study”.
The Backing Drivers’ Bill would also rule out top-down blanket Low Traffic Neighbourhoods and 20mph zones.
The manifesto says: “While 20mph zones can help improve road safety in residential areas or outside schools, misuse undermines public trust and risks congestion and pollution. 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 referendum and introduce a ‘right to challenge’ existing Low Traffic Neighbourhoods and 20mph schemes.”
This follows on from the Conservatives’ recently published ‘Plan for Drivers’, which included reforms to make better use of bus lanes, introduce penalties for overrunning street works and implement a consistent approach to the enforcement of entering yellow box junctions. Following a recent consultation, it also seeks to allow motorcycles in all bus lanes and reform motorcycle licensing.
The Backing Drivers’ Bill would also expand to cover Wales, reversing Labour’s blanket 20mph speed limit by requiring local consent for 20mph zones and giving local communities the legal right to challenge existing zones.
Drivers would also benefit from a rollout of the National Parking Platform this year to simplify paying for parking, and the party would also give councils the power to ban pavement parking, “provided they engage with businesses and residents to ensure they are not adversely affected”.
The Conservatives also said they would deliver on the Pumpwatch scheme, after the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act became law last month, forcing fuel retailers to share live prices.
The Tories also maintained their pledge to build no new smart motorways and invest in improving the safety of existing ones.
Other infrastructure commitments included a bid to invest £36bn in local roads, rail and buses to drive regional growth, including the previously pledged £8.3bn to fill potholes and resurface roads, funded by cancelling the second phase of HS2.
Transport measures also included a pledge to introduce a Rail Reform Bill in the first King’s Speech to create Great British Railways (GBR) and to roll out mobile pay-as-you-go contactless tickets nationwide.
Safety policies saw a pledge to work with Active Travel England to make it safer for people to walk or cycle and the previously announced plans to bring penalties for dangerous cyclists who kill or injure into line with those for other road users.
Finally, the party laid out its commitments on electric vehicles, saying it would “support people to choose electric cars by ensuring our charging infrastructure is truly nationwide, including rapid charging and delivering the Zero Emission Vehicle Mandate to support manufacturers to safeguard skilled British jobs”.
The manifesto also says: “We will always back our world-leading automotive industry, which faces unprecedented competition from China in the electric vehicles market. We stand ready to support domestic car manufacturers if there is evidence other countries are breaking global trade rules.”
The manifesto has been published a day after the Lib Dems’ document – which said the party would bring back the 2030 ICE ban, restore the Plug-in Car Grant, rapidly deploy more public charging points and cut charging costs by reducing the 20% VAT rate for public charging to the 5% seen for domestic use.
Reaction from the automotive and motoring sector
The AA welcomed the manifesto’s confirmation of the £8.3bn funding for potholes and the agreement to bring forward some funding for infrastructure.
Jakob Pfaudler, AA CEO, said: “Potholes are the number one issue for drivers. The AA and our Pothole Partnership had called for road maintenance funding to be brought forward due to the current crisis and we pleased this has been recognised in the manifesto.”
The AA also greeted the commitment to motorcycles in bus lanes but said it was disappointed that the Tories were continuing with current ‘smart’ motorways.
The RAC said it was positive to see the pledges on the Pumpwatch scheme and the launch of a National Parking Platform but added that a lack of mention of road casualty reduction targets or a commitment to give councils long-term certainty of funding for local roads was disappointing.
RAC head of policy Simon Williams said: “We continue to believe the road casualty reduction targets – which were abandoned 14 years ago – should be reinstated, especially as pedestrian fatalities hit their highest rate since the pandemic this year.”
Williams also pointed out that the previously announced £8.3bn of reallocated HS2 funding for resurfacing 5,000 miles of local roads only represents 3% of all council-run roads in England.
“Spread over an 11-year timeframe, that funding sadly doesn’t scratch the surface of country’s pothole problem. We would have liked to see a commitment to ringfencing some general taxation to pay for local road maintenance, which would give councils the ability to plan long-term programmes to bring their roads back up to a fit-for-purpose state.”
The RAC also said it was surprised that pay-per-mile road pricing would be “ruled out so definitively”.
With fuel duty revenue already declining and set to fall even further as more electric vehicles come on to the road, a replacement form of taxation will have to be introduced to avoid losing billions. Any further drop in tax revenue could ultimately result in our local roads crumbling into an even worse condition.”
Williams added: “It is, however, good news to see a pledge to get the Pumpwatch fuel price transparency scheme, which received Royal Assent shortly before the election was called, up and running. This, alongside an official price monitoring body, will hopefully give drivers fairer deals on the UK’s 8,300-plus forecourts.”
Business group Logistics UK also welcomed the measures to tackle congestion and potholes – and said the manifesto “recognises the importance of transport and other infrastructure investment to support the economy”.
Kevin Green, policy director, continued: “To unleash the power of logistics to drive growth across the whole economy, our sector needs agreement and investment in a strategic logistics network and an agreed road map between government and industry to net zero. The manifesto’s commitments on green levies and road pricing are interesting but it is the long-term plans in these areas and in infrastructure improvement that will enable businesses to invest, with confidence.”
It’s calling for a partnership with the next government, backed by a dedicated minister for logistics and supply chain, to develop and deliver long-term plans for logistics.
“Without such a bold approach, and reform of planning, the apprenticeship levy reform and our trading relationship with Europe, we will not get the economic growth the country needs,” Green added.
And advocacy group Transport & Environment slammed the manifesto for a lack of action on transport emissions.
Richard Hebditch, UK director, said: “The Conservatives are clearly taking energy security seriously, so it’s baffling that there isn’t a focus on policies to reduce the UK’s reliance on foreign oil. Electric cars and trucks are dirt cheap to run, don’t drench the air with pollution and don’t rely on Middle Eastern oil. But there is nothing new in the manifesto to accelerate their uptake nor to effectively tackle out-of-control aviation and shipping emissions.
“The 2019 manifesto committed the Conservatives to ‘lead the global fight against climate change’. Watering down ambition serves no-one and undermines the cross-party consensus on which the UK’s strong progress has been built.”
The Conservatives’ manifesto is online here.
