Rishi Sunak has ordered a formal review of low-traffic neighbourhood (LTN) schemes as he seeks again to use green policies as a wedge issue with Labour and Keir Starmer.
In an interview with the Sunday Telegraph, the prime minister also made a notably personal attack against Starmer, accusing him of lacking any guiding principles and being a political opportunist.
No 10 has asked the Department for Transport (DfT) to carry out a review of LTNs, with Sunak telling the paper that Labour’s policies were “quite anti-motorist”.
The Conservatives’ narrow win in this month’s Uxbridge byelection was seemingly helped in part by opposition among voters to the expansion of London’s ultra-low emission zone (Ulez) by the city’s Labour mayor, Sadiq Khan, prompting Downing Street to raise the idea of watering down green policies more widely.
This includes the review of LTNs, council-run schemes that seek to promote walking and cycling by filtering some local streets so that motor vehicles can access them but cannot use them as cut-throughs.
While these have existed in various forms for decades, their expansion was heavily promoted by Boris Johnson’s government during Covid, which provided funding for councils to create new schemes.
LTNs do not impose any new costs on drivers and are primarily aimed at boosting active travel. While research and polling suggests they are generally effective and popular, they have become a controversial political issue, prompting Sunak to reverse on Johnson’s strong backing for them.
A government spokesperson said the review would ensure that such measures “work for residents, businesses and emergency services”, and further details were not yet available.
As there is no set definition of what an LTN entails, and they are implemented by councils, it is unclear what action could follow from the review. One government source said options could include changes to guidance, or even legislation if needed.
In his interview, Sunak highlighted policies such as Ulez and a reduction in road-building by Wales’s Labour government to argue the party had become anti-driver.
“The vast majority of people in the country use their cars to get around and are dependent on their cars,” he said. “When I’m lucky enough to get home to North Yorkshire, it’s more representative of how most of the country is living, where cars are important. I just want to make sure people know that I’m on their side in supporting them to use their cars to do all the things that matter to them.”
Speaking during a visit to Wrexham, north Wales, on Friday, Sunak also told the paper that, unlike his own, Starmer’s politics did not seem to be led by principles.
“I’ve done the job for just over eight months or so now, and one of the things is PMQs, where I get to see him every week. I’ve got to say, the more I do it, the less I seem to understand about Keir Starmer and the Labour party’s views on anything, counterintuitively,” he said.
“That’s because, for me, I have a set of principles and values that are important to me, and that anchor my approach to life and to government. I don’t see that across the dispatch box. Every week you just get a different position, and he just is quite happy to jump on whatever bandwagon is coming along, and his response to whatever headline or poll he has seen the week before – and I think people can see that.”
With the Conservatives consistently trailing Labour by 20-plus points in polls, No 10 has indicated Sunak will take a more personal and aggressive campaigning stance. He is under pressure after the Uxbridge result to roll back on green and net zero policies, which has created alarm among environmental groups.
On Sunday, a group of 43 Tory MPs and peers sceptical of net zero targets wrote to Sunak asking him to delay the 2030 timetable for ending the sale of new petrol and diesel cars, something he again ruled out in the interview.
Sunak is also pushing back against Labour’s policy of banning any new North Sea gas and oil projects. On Monday he is due to visit Aberdeenshire to announce funding for a new carbon capture project in Scotland, the Sunday Times said, intended to meet green targets while continuing drilling in the North Sea.
