Labour's failure to “hammer cowboy roadworks” and implement a raft of measures to help motorists mean 10,000 potholes a month are left unfixed, the Conservatives claim. Sir Keir Starmer’s party is blasted for not going forward with a plan to crack down on overrunning roadworks with fines of up to £10,000 a day and “plough the proceeds straight back into fixing Britain’s roads”.
The Tories say the “plan for drivers” consulted on while they were in power could raise up to £100million over a decade and provide the necessary cash to repair “Britain’s battered roads”. Labour is accused of stalling even though ministers arrived in office with a “blueprint on the desk and the chance to show they were serious about tackling congestion”.
Conservatives claim the failure to act means the nation has missed out on £8.3million so far this year which could have funded repairs for more than 94,500 potholes.
Former transport minister Richard Holden said: “We left Labour a fully fuelled plan to hammer cowboy roadworks with £10,000 fines and pour the cash back into fixing Britain’s roads. Ten months on, Labour have parked the plan, missing out on over £8million that could have fixed nearly 100,000 potholes”.
He said Labour was sitting “in neutral, leaving drivers dodging craters and sitting in traffic”.
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“Every day of delay is another day drivers are punished,” he said. “Labour need to stop idling and get this plan on the road before Britain grinds to a halt.”
However, the Department for Transport strongly rejected the Tory claims.
A spokesperson said: “This is demonstrably untrue. For far too long our roads have been left to crumble and that is why we are investing a record £1.6billion this year to enable local authorities to fix up to seven million more potholes. It ignores that fact that we are cracking down on overrunning roadworks or companies leaving roads poorly repaired by ramping up fines and giving local authorities new powers to coordinate roadworks more efficiently.
The Government insists overrun charges will be extended to cover weekends and bank holidays. It says that over the next four years £24billion will be invested to maintain and improve motorways and local roads.