Not strictly Rishi, but Oh Dear Lee.
I've seen it a few places and it seems to be genuine.
https://twitter.com/JohnPBowenMusic/status/1683630957264248833
In the absence of anything like actual functioning policies I expect we'll see more of this
A colleagues wife works for the home office and is part of a team that audits passport fraud, shes just been told theres voluntary redundancies all round........ so I suspect the situation will actually get worse
For those that aren’t, suitable cars are abundant and cheap for people that need to drive about.
I have a friend who lives in Bromley. Her and her husband earn ok salaries (tho she only works 3 days a week cos they have 4 kids). Their people carrier is not compliant, and the cheapest compliant replacement they've been able to find big enough for their family is £15k. They're not low wage workers by any means, but with the rise in cost of living and mortgages in particular, they simply dont have that money to spend.
To say suitable cars are abundant and cheap is, frankly, bollox.
I just googled autotrader for 6 seater MPV's within 25 miles of Bromley for £3-5K and it says 21. A quick scroll through suggests about half are ULEZ.
Or for £15K you can get 40 months of ULEZ fees.
Seriously, that is now the choices ahead of us. As I said earlier the Gov should be looking to support folks who genuinely cannot afford to change, but these are difficult times.
When he’s successfully pissed off the notably left-wing the RSPB, the NT and the RSPCA…
Or for £15K you can get 40 months of ULEZ fees.
That’s if you drive every day though, and isn’t one of the points of this to make people stop and think eg. “Maybe we’ll walk rather than drive this polluting vehicle half a mile to school”? There remains a decent amount of evidence that the majority of urban car journeys are <3 miles, and a significant proportion <1 mile.
As an aside given that both this and the SKS thread are descending into ULEZ debates, do we not need a thread for that?
And now he's ordering a review of low traffic neighbourhoods, wouldn't mind if it was a genuine review but his statements in support of car drivers says not 😠 electioneering at its very worst.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-66351785
It's purely to appeal to their core voters. The review will go ahead, not give it's results until after the next election but they will hint it says to scrap the ULEZ, the report will then be published saying it's a tight choice but they will have to let it go ahead/stay and then they'll blame it on the Labour London Mayor and completely gloss over that it was actually forced through by the Tory govt as part of the latest TfL funding agreements (they got extra funding only if they implemented the ULEZ expansion).
As for the tweets Billoddie linked to? Could you be more overtly appealing to racist, Brexit voting morons without actually saying so?
Opened the BBC site, saw the headline and swore loudly.
Just shows how spineless they are in terms of quality of life, active travel and wider climate change.
It just shows they have zero in the locker. It's policy entirely driven on the back of what happened in Uxbridge.
Spineless is the word. No long term, ambitious, impactful change - just dog whistle vote grab.
See also, "small boats" and "bendy bananas"
****servatives! That's all I've got.
It’s purely to appeal to their core voters.
No it's not. It is about making as many car drivers as possible believe there is a "war on motorists", that they are being wronged by leftist elites. It is a clear election strategy to get an "in" to voters through a falsehood that many will believe they are being wronged by, without revealing that social and financial inequality is really at the root of the problem. It is also something they see the way the current labour party acts and expect to force another change in direction and submission to populism.
It just shows they have zero in the locker. It’s policy entirely driven on the back of what happened in Uxbridge.
Which is one of the reasons why Sadiq Khan's ulez expansion is so wrong.
Unless you accept that it is designed to increase revenue to a plug hole in Transport for London's finances left by pandemic lockdowns, it is an unnecessary solution to a problem which is currently resolving itself without any further interference thanks to the strict emission requirements to all new vehicles, that will be used by climate change deniers and all those opposed to low traffic neighbourhoods to undermine important and absolutely necessary legislation.
Climate change deniers and the anti-cycling lobby, as well as a Tory Party on its knees, will be very grateful to Sadiq Khan for giving them such useful ammunition.
Sadiq Khan should at least be honest and admit that ulez expansion is designed to create revenue from those least able to afford it during a cost of living crisis, instead of dishonestly tying it up to environmental issues on which it will have negligible effect and are currently resolving themselves anyway.
The latest developments were completely predictable.
Unless you accept that it is designed to increase revenue to a plug hole in Transport for London’s finances left by pandemic lockdowns
Was it not a requirement for TfL to get access to government funding?
Yes, TfL need money, but the government could have, you know, just given them some, rather than divert the blame on to Khan and fuel yet another division in their culture war.
Was it not a requirement for TfL to get access to government funding?
Yup, when Sadiq Khan asked for further money from the government to plug the huge hole left by the pandemic in TfL's finances they asked him what would he do to guarantee TfL's future sustainability.
He offered ulez expansion as a solution. What a great idea they thought, an unpopular policy by a Labour mayor to squeeze money from low income voters who are the most likely to vote Labour.
And we are where we are today.
Sadiq Khan has pretended that the policy is only to do with environmental issues and nothing else. Not everyone believes him, and those that do are lumping it with climate change issues, which it has nothing to do with.
The Tories and climate change deniers and anti-cyclists are all predictably exploiting the issue for their various different agendas.
Yes, TfL need money, but the government could have, you know, just given them some, rather than divert the blame on to Khan and fuel yet another division in their culture war.
This is perfect framing.
Lack of money is as much part of the political war on winning an election. We have money for this but not for that.
Total manipulation of the public purse.
During the austerity years - believe it or not a considerable amount of cash was still spent/taxation cut. While we all thought austerity was a deficit reduction programme the Tory government still added 640bn more than offset by tax 2010-2019.
Can I just add not only do I believe that Sadiq Khan's ulez expansion is wrong, certainly at least now, imo it represents a serious setback in the current political war against climate change deniers and anti-environmentalists.
He has made it a little bit harder to win that political war. Being honest about the reason for ulez expansion would have helped although obviously it would have made it impossible for him to justify it.
Rishi Sunak is pretty right wing, he's certainly not a moderate one nation Tory. The thing that makes him seem moderate is that compared to his predecessors he's more pragmatic, rather than being a hard-core ideologue (Truss) or a liar (Johnson). In this he's closer to Cameron and Osbourne who were adept at presenting the acceptable face of what was a very right wing agenda (de-funding large parts of the state).
The other thing that resonates with me, is hearing Nick Clegg talk about their time in coalition, where he said that the Conservative attitude was that if a group weren't likely to vote for them (cyclists and pedestrians?) then they really didn't care what they thought. The Conservative focus has always been on those people who can get them and keep them in power.
Taking this into account, I'm not surprised that he's announced this. It's also the latest in a long line of Conservative performative policies that are intended to gain positive press with little thought to practical implications.
No it’s not. It is about making as many car drivers as possible believe there is a “war on motorists”, that they are being wronged by leftist elites. It is a clear election strategy to get an “in” to voters through a falsehood that many will believe they are being wronged by, without revealing that social and financial inequality is really at the root of the problem. It is also something they see the way the current labour party acts and expect to force another change in direction and submission to populism.
It's a reaction to what happened in Uxbridge, the Labour candidate that just lost gained a few extra votes by publicly questioning the ULEZ that afr out form the city centre. Polling analysis showed that it cost the Tories a decent chunk of their core support as their candidate was strangely quiet on the issue, hence the announcement from Sunak now.
The "War on Motorists" is a more general one, one which the Tories are absolutely capable of changing as they are in power right now but they do nothing. Amazingly it's all blamed on Labour by a lot of the motoring forums!
And now he’s ordering a review of low traffic neighbourhoods, wouldn’t mind if it was a genuine review but his statements in support of car drivers says not 😠 electioneering at its very worst.
Multitudinous problems with this, firstly an LTN isn’t terribly well defined, secondly all the evidence suggests that standing on an anti-active travel platform doesn’t work, and thirdly even Tory voters tend to be engaged on environmental/air quality issues.
This smacks of desperation, trying to consolidate the core suburban/rural vote to minimise the damage at an election even they must know they’re likely to lose.
the Conservative attitude was that if a group weren’t likely to vote for them (cyclists and pedestrians?) then they really didn’t care what they thought.
It’s a pity the King of the North doesn’t apply this, as we might have a CAZ by now rather than having poor and worsening air quality.
The “War on Motorists” is a more general one, one which the Tories are absolutely capable of changing as they are in power right now but they do nothing. Amazingly it’s all blamed on Labour by a lot of the motoring forums!
You’d think they’d cotton on that a man shown to not even know how to pay for fuel at a filling station, and so often taking short flights in helicopters and jets above their heads to avoid travelling down here with them, might be part of the problem.
But blaming Labour for everything is a growing trend. It worked in the North East of England and elsewhere, unseating Labour MPs due to the effects of having a Conservative government. No reason why it can’t happen more widely. As our transport infrastructure is shown to be not up to the job after over a decade of Conservative rule… blame that on Labour for wanting people to be able to walk to school or the shops or the local pub safely. As our NHS waiting lists grow and grow, blame it on Labour resisting anti Union laws aimed at breaking our health workforce. As the cost of living spirals, blame Labour for not supporting Brexit and the chance to avoid raising standards…
"The future for this country is in imposing fewer burdens and being more lightly regulated than the EU, not in unilaterally imposing additional job-destroying burdens to meet an unnecessary and unworkable deadline."
[from that BBC link about the “review” of traffic policy being trailed in the Telegraph]
Does Sunak mean deadlines for improving air quality in cities? Or deadlines for reducing climate changing emissions? Either way, they’re not unnecessary, and are only unworkable if you’re not prepared to work to achieve them.
Add air quality and climate change to the Brexit bonus of river and sea water quality.
Rishi Sunak was busy painting and planting in South London this weekend, what did you do?
https://www.newsshopper.co.uk/news/23688849.uk-prime-minister-rishi-sunak-spotted-dartford-sidcup/
"Rishi Sunak was spotted visiting south east London yesterday, painting walls and planting with local volunteers."
Weird thing with LTZ is they increase footfall in shops, have no effect on traffic and local folk approve by a big margin. Its just the objectors are very noisy
I mean no increase in traffic congestion in surrounding streets - of course it reduces it in the LTZ. weird but I think thats true
They are simply doing silly things so that when Labour are in power they inherit a very broken country and will struggle to make progress fixing the problems.
That gives them the opportunity to attack Labour in the right wing media so they will hope to win the election in 2029. The biggest victory of the Tories in recent years was that they convinced the electorate that Labour caused the global financial crisis in 2007-9.
Sunak is apparently coming to Scotland today. How close will the nearest member of the public be? 1 km?
He's gone full on eco-terrorist now.
New oil and gas licences for "energy security" (ignoring that it can take 15+ years to actually get new oil and gas out of a new field).
End the war on cars immediately with reviews of 20mph and LTN , be generally anti clean air, anti active travel.
Some oil/gas/auto industry donors must have been busy the last few days. He's suddenly woken up with a new mission to really trash the very last vestiges of the environment.
The dinosaur party. Completely given up on the younger generations. Every policy aimed at the pensioner vote.
So we need more engagement of the youth vote. How does that happen if the alternatives to the Tories are just a bit shit?
The Green parties manifesto and intentions seem good to me, why can't young voters vote Green?
The dinosaur party. Completely given up on the younger generations. Every policy aimed at the pensioner vote.
It could back fire to some extent, pensioners have grandchildren.... my mother voted green in 19 :/
how depressing to now feel i live in a regressive country that still panders to large fossil fuel business and car users.
vote out the Tories now
It could back fire to some extent
It almost certainly will. The evidence suggests that the electorate is largely in favour of green policies, at least until they impact directly on them. New oil and gas fields are sufficiently abstract…
It looks like it’s quite literally Scorched Earth from now until they’re voted out
That gives them the opportunity to attack Labour in the right wing media so they will hope to win the election in 2029. The biggest victory of the Tories in recent years was that they convinced the electorate that Labour caused the global financial crisis in 2007-9.
Yep, not a single person who's ever quoted to me that it was Labour's fault as they had weak regulation was able to respond to the response "show me evidence where Tories wanted stronger regulations in that period?".
IMO Sunak is a proper old fashioned capitalist, and won't rest until the +99% of us are bled dry so the <1% are even richer and control even more. If ordinary folk think it's tough now, wait until they vote Tory again next time, then they'll really discover what "tough" is.
Oh, and this (Scottish) oil - I thought it was due to have run out by now?
Did someone say regressive?
I didn’t realise they were going full Clarkson with attacks on speed limits. Not that anything will come of it, just headline chasing.
Thing is, piling out all the “burn more” policies this weekend after narrowly winning a once very safe seat… what’s the game plan? Do they think this stuff is sticky enough to get them to an election, or is Sunak just hoping for a small bump in the polls to see off challengers to his leadership internally?
Sunak obviously piling everything in to the ULEZ swing at the Uxbridge by-election
tbf it will probably win back a few votes with the UKIP/Reform demographic but Im not sure how much mileage 😉 there is in all that
Also UK oil infrastructure needs huge investment and as TJ says whats left is not the easy to get stuff, the North Sea stuff is also just Hot Air 😉 but again it pleases the people that believe the telegraph is a trusted source for scientific info
Yep, not a single person who’s ever quoted to me that it was Labour’s fault as they had weak regulation was able to respond to the response “show me evidence where Tories wanted stronger regulations in that period?
George Osbourne was shadow chancellor during that period and was constantly attacking labour for the 'over-regulation' of the UK finance sector and demanding 'red tape' be torn up to allow it more freedom
When his mates and paymasters in The City then nearly bankrupted the country, he did a 180 and then with the aid of the right wing press, successfully re-wrote history
I think someone in Scotland should ask Sunak why he thinks it's OK for him to live in [perhaps one of the most famous] LTNs, but it's not OK that the rest of us get the opportunity.
Obviously Sunak travelling in his usual style and will be flying to Scotland by private jet
Very fitting, from a carbon footprint point of view
He was pulled up by a Scottish journalist this morning and started blabbering on about not wanting to stop people flying and going on holiday. Fair play to the journalist who was having none of that and pointed out that there was quite a significant difference between getting on a package holiday to Spain with hundreds of other passengers and flying a private jet the length of the country and back, pretty much on your own, to give a speech
He then started waffling about this being the best use of his time, like thats the only thing of any importance. His sense of entitlement is right up there with Liz Truss. Absolutely off the ****ing chart!
Unfortunately for Rishi Sunak Liz Truss toxified the Tory brand so much that he didn't really have much of a honeymoon period.
The most that Rishi Sunak has managed to close the gap with Labour occurred about April this year, quite a while after he became PM.
https://www.politico.eu/europe-poll-of-polls/united-kingdom/
Unfortunately for Rishi Sunak Liz Truss toxified the Tory brand so much that he didn’t really have much of a honeymoon period.
The retoxification of the Tory brand (if it was ever detoxified) started the day Dave and Gideon walked into number ten and its been downhill ever since, particularly since the utter stupidity of June 2016. Rishi was very much part and parcel of the whole shambles. Liz Truss was just the most flagrent example of it, but every one of them was responsible for it, particularly one who was chancellor of the exchequer.
I'm finding his ludicrous, smiley upbeat manner when he speaks, like some deranged Butlins red coat, makes me want to slap him around his tiny little smiley face with a wet fish
He then started waffling about this being the best use of his time, like thats the only thing of any importance.
I do wish some journalist would ask him if a photo op was really the best use of his time.
Most of these urgent helicopter trips seem to be so he can have his photo taken somewhere and get back to London as soon as possible.
Heres the exchange where Rishi tries to compare his private jet use to people going on holiday...
https://twitter.com/PoliticsJOE_UK/status/1685956063474905089?s=20
Tory ****, I wish someone would take a swing at him and rearrange his smug ****ing face.
He left that conversation pretty quickly!
He's crap at that stuff isn't he. Obviously they've got an attack line ready in case he gets challenged for the needless jet flights, since it's been more and more a talking point with his ministers flying around for no reason, and he just blurts it out without any sort of thought or framing. Of course a lot of people will never hear the full quote or know what the question was, they'll just get the response, filtered through their chosen press and repositioned to not just seem like a premature ejaculation
He really doesn't want to run the risk of interacting with the public does he, I mean he knows he's going the catch a load of flak doing this yet he goes ahead anyway when it could easily be avoided by a scheduled flight or the train. He's as much a coward as Johnson and equally mendacious.
The climate crisis is the new populist tact! Woke and small boats obviously not enough. The sad thing is, it will probably work as Starmer has alluded too.
I'm far from a fan of Rishi's but the underlying issue here is his position as PM is very weak, he might have a majority in the House but he knows his two predecessors we're ousted from within and he's in a weaker position than either of them (about the only thing going for him is the 1922 committee et al know they've already scraped the bottom of the barrel and he's probably the best chance they have of not getting completely decimated at the next GE). So essentially it's not Rishi's preferred policies we're seeing, it's the ones his right-wing masters have told him are acceptable to them. What an utter sham of a representative democracy we have...
On the other hand, if you ever think your vote isn't meaningful, just remember that time 500 voters in a byelection was enough to burn every pro-environment policy to the ground
On the other hand, if you ever think your vote isn’t meaningful, just remember that time 500 voters in a byelection was enough to burn every pro-environment policy to the ground
Yes. And if ever there was a time to write to your MP in support of environmental policies, this is it (or your constituency party of whatever stripe).
Slight snag is if you're in the same boat as me, ie. having a useless Tory sock puppet with a majority of 600, who's already said he's standing down before the voters get to boot him out and so won't care.
just remember that time 500 voters in a byelection was enough to burn every pro-environment policy to the ground
Aside from it wasnt really. It was the right wing rags pushing this claim and all the politicians folding.
Otherwise they could have stepped up and asked why if it was the key factor had the anti brigade done so badly in local and mayoral elections.
Christ only knows who this simpleton Tory MP is on channel 4 news. Craig McKinnley apparently, whoever he is. He’s a full on climate change denier who, in light of what’s happening in the world, sounds truly unhinged!
He’s from the ‘Net Zero Scrutiny Group’ which is obviously the latest name for the backbench Tory headbangers and fruitloops who brought us Brexit
Sounds like Rishi is happy to do their bidding as I’m sure he agrees with them
God help us!
John Crace sums it up perfectly, as always…
https://twitter.com/guardian/status/1686083885182894080?s=46&t=1lK7Dw1b6RqGJyvufO-trQ
Any slight hope Rishi isn't as unhinged as his predecessors has definitely left the building. Whatever your politics climate change is real and the current levels of denial are surreal. Rishi banking on new oil licences as our future fuel strategy is nuts. Mind he'll be insulated from the worst of the mess he's perpetuating.
On the other hand, if you ever think your vote isn’t meaningful, just remember that time 500 voters in a byelection was enough to burn every pro-environment policy to the ground
Follow the money. The donors, investments and dodgy procurement will drive these decisions more than the electorate
Aside from it wasnt really. It was the right wing rags pushing this claim and all the politicians folding.
I think you’ll find thevright wing press and the right wing government are pretty much interchangeable.
Though the ownership of the Press and its influence should be a major talking point in the run up to the next election
The Scottish Daily Fail had the headline today that Rishi was creating 21,000 green jobs… It’s like when tobacco companies were trying to make cigarettes out as healthy. Next they’ll be telling us pumping raw sewage into rivers is actually good for them.
Sunak is a total ***t isn't he?
So much for the integrity bollocks and all that crap he spewed out when he became PM.
I just hope it serves to remind everyone why it's so important to get them out at all costs then concern ourselves with pushing Labour or Lab/Libdems toward the direction we need.
Get the Tories out at all costs first.
Decimation (the loss of one in ten) would actually be a good result for the Conservatives.
Sunak is just the dafty who wanted to be PM so much he didn't care what state the party and country were in, i doubt he's pushing much, it'll all be done for him, i'm more disappointed in Just Stop Oil, their tactics over the last couple of years has been to annoy and antagonise the public, you do that and just like politics, you get a bit more apathy from the left and centre, and the right are spewing and skewing the argument, it's just made it easier for government and their backers to pull something like this, knowing any counteraction from JSO will be even more negatively viewed by the public.
Sadly the tories have the power for now, and aren't afraid to use it for their own means, there'll be more of this in the coming months i'd bet.
Sunak is a total ***t isn’t he?
That anyone should be in the least surprised about that is a testimony of how the large amounts of money he spent on his image was money well spent - Rishi Sunak comes from the right-wing of the Tory Party.
https://www.tatler.com/article/who-is-cass-horowitz-rishi-sunak-special-advisor-social-media-guru
As general election Armageddon approaches Sunak will undoubtedly become more erratic, unpredictable, and employ high risk tactics, as he desperately tries to stop the ship from sinking.
Some of the tactics they are likely to use they would never normally use in a less desperate situation. A good example of this IMO was the Sadiq Khan v Zac Goldsmith mayoral election.
When it became obvious that the Tory candidate was the underdog with little chance of winning Zac Goldsmith in an act of complete desperation turned to islamophobia, with the full support of David Cameron.
The tactic simply backfired, it made Zac Goldsmith appear to be a grubby bigot unfit to be mayor of a hugely multicultural and cosmopolitan city. Londoners knew that the whole premise that Sadiq Khan was a Islamic extremist was absurd.
I am not sure if Goldsmith later regretted scraping the gutter looking for votes or whether like Sunak today he simply felt it was worth it as he was desperate and had nothing to lose.
Personally I believe the size of the defeat is hugely important so the possibility of tactics backfiring, even in a desperate situation, should be considered.
Edit: Meant to post this to highlight just how desperate things are for the Tories - Labour's share of the vote is now consistently almost double that of the Tories. And if anything the gap between the two is getting larger.
https://twitter.com/DeltapollUK/status/1686044529776795652
Don't know how to link this, but,
https://twitter.com/RishiSunak/status/1685582472262602752
Freedom! Fatcha! Breathing fumes! It's just a miracle he didn't say "hard working families"
<edit- well blow me down, the embed html doesn't work but if you just put the link thing there it turns into the thing by itself! Science!>
i’m more disappointed in Just Stop Oil, their tactics over the last couple of years has been to annoy and antagonise the public, you do that and just like politics, you get a bit more apathy from the left and centre, and the right are spewing and skewing the argument, it’s just made it easier for government and their backers to pull something like this, knowing any counteraction from JSO will be even more negatively viewed by the public.
While I don't disagree that JSO have probably alienated a chunk of the public, you're maybe selling the wider electorate short. I think they understand better than the meeja and Tory MPs think.
Lil' Rishi has rediscovered the air of smug condescension that I assume comes naturally to billionaire bankers. I think he's managed to keep that mostly hidden over the last couple of years to some extent. But now that he's having to do more press as PM and defend the increasingly indefensible (like pissing all over environmental measures as Greece literally burns), he's coming off like more of a sneering bellend than ever.
They're definitely cuing up environmental issues as the next front for the UK culture war; you can have your Range Rover and fly to Florida twice a year for hollibops because apparently we'll lock all the carbons up under the North sea (feels like a wildly oversold project).
Yeah that'll show those filthy hippies!
The Tory offering is going to be a claim that they'll maintain our existing, fossil fuelled standards of living (recent interest and COL spikes not withstanding) while labour will ULEZ all over your face and trap you in the terror of 15 minute city hell!
The thing is I think climate change denial is a shrinking trend, and Rishi has badly miscalculated people's desire to ignore the effects and just carry on burning dino-juice.
There's more of an air of gallows humour about it amongst the public currently, part of that is the simple recognition that our government really doesn't seem to give a shit, and their buddies are still coining it off late stage hydrocarbon driven capitalism...
It's not so much the scales lifting as inevitable cynicism when yet another a Tory PM now literally promises you the Earth in return for your vote next year, eventually people start to notice a pattern.
Polling of 3,000 adults by Opinium found that, for voters who voted Tory in 2019 and planned to vote Labour next year, 57 per cent felt the prime minister had “not gone far enough” on tackling climate change. Only 9 per cent thought he had gone too far, 25 per cent thought he had it about right and 10 per cent did not know.
That is just one poll concerning the very people whose support Rishi Sunak desperately needs to hang onto. Plenty of other polls show overwhelming public concern for climate change.
Similarly there is huge public support for LTNs:
These facts should, and will be, readily available to Rishi Sunak. But like an addicted gambler he chooses to ignore the evidence believing, or more likely desperately hoping, that he has now found a winner.
He is misreading the lesson to be learnt from the Uxbridge by-election because doing so fits his preferred narrative.
He wants to believe that he has found the issue that will stop the Tories being annihilated next general election, even if sensible people are telling him that he hasn't.
I'm really supprised that labour are so far ahead of the tories, given that Labour are also a racist, pro-brexit, Anti-EU party.
I mean, go big or go home, vote tory for gods sake.
Especially given that Labour are now the anti motorist party and the majority of people are motorists aren't they.
I am sure Starmer will have something progressive to say about all this stuff.
Why would anyone in their right mind think that 20mph speed limits in urban areas are a bad idea?
Had a look online and the RAC dismiss a casualty reduction of 22% as insignificant.
In total, road traffic collisions fell by 3% and 15%, respectively, over the one and three year periods after the policy took effect.
Over the same time frame, casualty rates fell by 16% and 22%, respectively.
Who the **** are these people?
I doubt even Clarkson would oppose 20mph urban speed limits!
Why would anyone in their right mind think that 20mph speed limits in urban areas are a bad idea?
I did a speed awareness course a while back (my fault, sorry...) and half the room were raging that anyone dare pass judgement on their driving or their God-given right to drive a car. One guy was incensed by 20mph limits. He thought, and I'm not making this up, because the casualty rate drops it makes pedestrians less fearful and therefore more likely to get hit. So speed limits in towns should be increased to keep people scared. He'll be loving this.
Watching Newsnight last night it was clear that whilst the Tories will say anything to try and grab votes, Labour are quite scared of this tactic and are refusing to commit one way or the other. The Labour politician last night refused to say they'd roll back on these licenses. They're as bad as each other I fear. But because of our ridiculous first past the post voting system we're stuck with them. Wholesale reform of Westminster is essential to stop this sort of nonsense. How many people would vote for a more progressive party if they could? I know I would but round here it would be a wasted vote.
Heres the Axis of Stupid on that you're up against.... A winning combination of Priti Patel and The Sun...
https://twitter.com/pritipatel/status/1686131293564661760?s=20
It looks like further attack lines being drawn for the general election, with any restrictions placed on anyone being portrayed as a 'war on motorists'
A winning combination of Priti Patel and The Sun…
For the latter I would like to see the definition of "the public".
I did a speed awareness course a while back (my fault, sorry…) and half the room were raging that anyone dare pass judgement on their driving or their God-given right to drive a car.
I did one years back and the host/lecturer was verbally slagging off cyclists during the "spot the hazards" session. Didn't consider them a vulnerable road user just a liability.
Reduced speed clearly reduces severity of accidents, particularly with pedestrians. Blanket 20 zones like Wales is bringing in dont really reduce speeds unless they are rigorously enforced, in fact they normalise speeding. Do it properly or leave it alone.
Expect the Tories to attacking sneaky speed camera vans next, according to the local knuckle daggers on our town Facebook group they are equivalent to the mafia.