It’s been a particularly excruciating political campaign, coming so soon after the last one and the one before that, but in service to you we have diligently spent upwards of several minutes trawling through the manifestos of the five main political parties.
Theresa May has shown herself particularly deft at the U-turn, and has consistently endorsed the UK road network by hitting the motorways in her big blue battle bus, while Corbyn of course is more of a fan of the train.
When it comes to post-election promises, it is interesting that there are no pledges on fuel duty, unspecific commitments on road infrastructure and what could be controversial plans from the Liberal Democrats to ban diesel cars from sale in the UK by 2025.
So what do the manifestos say about motorists?
Conservatives
‘We will continue to develop the strategic road network, providing extra lanes on our motorways and improving key routes whilst also paying attention to parts of the country left behind because of poor transport connections. We will continue to invest in roads to fix pinch points and open up opportunities for new housing and local growth.’
The party has also committed £600m by 2020 to help achieve its goal of ‘almost every car and van’ being zero-emission by 2050.
Greens
‘Clean, safe, accessible public transport and more walking and cycling could make us all healthier and happier. We need a public transport system that takes us where we need to go, affordably and reliably. It should be easy to choose to leave the car at home – or not have one at all.’
Labour
‘Our plans will encourage and enable people to get out of their cars, for better health and a cleaner environment.’
The party also commits to road improvement programmes on the A1 North and A30, as well as pledging to scrap toll charges on the Severn Bridge. Labour says it will introduce ‘bold measures’ to help meet a new target of zero road deaths in the UK.
Liberal Democrats
Transport spokesperson Baroness Randerson: ‘We are committed to investing heavily in improving our roads and to shifting more freight on to rail to ease congestion for motorists. We would introduce universal charging points for electric vehicles and carry out widespread roll-out of these as a matter of urgency.
‘Motorists should vote Liberal Democrat if they want to see less congestion on our roads and less pollution in our air, if they want to see the Severn Bridge tolls scrapped and if they want to see a shift away from diesel to more sustainable forms of energy.’
The party specifically says it will introduce a diesel scrappage scheme ahead of banning the sale of diesel cars and vans in the UK by 2025.
UKIP
‘We will prevent diesel drivers from being penalised through higher taxes, parking fees or emissions zone charging. People bought their vehicles in good faith on government advice. Milking them now for money that simply goes into the Treasury is unacceptable.’
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