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Rishi Sunak will use a speech at next week’s Conservative Party conference in Manchester to appeal to motorists as a way to deflect criticism of his plans to cancel the northern leg of the HS2 high-speed rail project.
Sunak spent much of Thursday facing harsh questioning from local radio and television stations over his refusal to guarantee the construction of the HS2 line from Birmingham to Manchester.
Question marks over the future of HS2 look set to dog Sunak at the conference in Manchester, with the Prime Minister determined to change the topic to his “Motorist Plan”.
Asked by BBC Radio Manchester whether he would build new rail lines in the north, Sunak replied that the “number one priority” from voters was fixing potholes.
Campaigners hope Sunak will announce new limits on some local authority funding to ensure it is only used for road maintenance, such as filling potholes.
The prime minister will emphasize pro-car policies, including a boycott of low-traffic neighborhood schemes and a crackdown on parking fees, according to government officials.
A political offensive to support the car industry follows the Prime Minister’s shift to green policies, which includes delaying a ban on the sale of new petrol and diesel cars from 2030 to 2035.
On Thursday, ministers also dilute Set a new target for the number of zero-emission vans sold in 2025 and halve the fines for van manufacturers who fail to meet the new target next year.
Part of Sunak’s driver-focused strategy has come to light in recent months as the Conservatives attack car-related policies proposed by regional Labor leaders.
The Conservatives have led opposition in Wales to the Labor government’s controversial policy of introducing 20mph speed limits in most built-up areas and are expected to tighten the rules for enforcing the policy in England. The government declined to comment.
Sunak has ordered a review of the creation of “low-traffic neighbourhoods” that will use private operators to charge parking fees to motorists, and pledged to strengthen the code of conduct governing the industry.
The Prime Minister is also expected to highlight how he has recently scrapped the construction of new smart motorways across the UK, a promise he first made during his Conservative leadership campaign last year.
Smart highways do not have permanent emergency shoulders for drivers to stop, but instead rely on cameras and sensors to close lanes as needed. Their use has been linked to serious car crashes and deaths.
In April, the government announced that 14 planned smart highways would be removed from road construction plans.
The prime minister said in an interview on Thursday that the southern leg of the HS2 line from Birmingham to London would be built to Euston station, rather than terminating in the capital at a new station at Old Oak Common six miles away in the northwest.
He told BBC West Midlands: “At the moment we have shovels in the ground to make sure we complete the first part of the line from Birmingham to central London and we will absolutely continue that, that’s important. “
However, Sunak later spoke highly of the Old Oak Common’s connections to the rest of London via the new Elizabeth Line, suggesting he thought it would be acceptable to terminate the line there. “Everyone has a different interpretation of ‘central London’,” said one Sunak aide.
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