Rishi Sunak’s drive to survive: are pro-car pledges a ‘vote magnet’?
Conservative and Labour parties refocus on green policies following Uxbridge by-election
Rishi Sunak has ordered a review of low-traffic neighbourhoods in England in the latest of a series of pro-motorist moves being seen as a bid to shore up Tory support among voters.
“A sharpening debate on green policies” is taking place in Westminster, said the BBC. The Tories’ victory in the Uxbridge and South Ruislip by-election earlier this month was seen by both Labour and the Conservatives as a sign that green policies may prove a vote loser at the next general election.
During the first Conservative leadership race last summer, Sunak promised to “stop the war on motorists once and for all” if he became the UK’s prime minister. He “is now beginning to deliver on his promise”, said The Telegraph.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
‘Anti-car’ policies are ‘electoral poison’
As the government makes a “headlong dash” to reach the UK’s net zero target, “ordinary motorists” are bearing the brunt of environmental schemes, said The Sun. Buying a new electric car is “no problem” for “woke politicians and campaigners”, but “it is those least able to afford it who are being hit hardest by punitive green policies”.
Low-traffic neighbourhoods are “one of the many pernicious anti-motorist schemes dreamt up by radical Left-wing urbanists and inexplicably endorsed by supposedly centre-Right politicians”, said The Telegraph.
And the 2030 target for eliminating the sale of new petrol and diesel vehicles is “a car-crash policy that is coming down the road at breakneck speed”, said The Sun. More than 40 MPs have called on the PM to delay the measure to 2035, in line with the EU’s target.
Sunak “has shown he is not afraid to challenge the illiberal, anti-car agenda”, and is “publicly and explicitly standing up for Britain’s motorists”, said The Telegraph. “Anti-car policies” are “electoral poison” – and “profoundly un-Conservative”. Tackling pollution “needs to be done through new technologies, not coercion”.
‘Frantic Tories’ are the ‘real story’
In the Uxbridge by-election, the Conservative Party “capitalised on voters’ anger” at Sadiq Khan’s plans to extend London’s ultra-low-emission zone, which proved “a key factor in their victory” over Labour, said the BBC. The prime minister urged the capital’s mayor to “think twice” about the plan.
Yet “remarkable strides have been made” in tackling the city’s vehicle emissions since 2000 by “elected mayors from both main political parties”, said Phineas Harper, chief executive of charity Open City, in The Guardian. “From the Great Stink to the Great Smog”, public health emergencies have “prompted ambitious anti-pollution measures” in London, “gradually transforming the capital for the better”.
“Tory spin doctors” are now using Labour’s by-election defeat to claim plans to ban petrol and diesel cars by 2030 “spell electoral suicide”. But “the real story”, said Harper, is that “increasingly frantic Tories are trying to confect a new car-centre culture war” after a “lacklustre” result in Uxbridge, a seat they held by “just 495 votes”.
“The Tories think their war on traffic rules is a vote magnet,” said The Guardian. True, opposing traffic restrictions may be “popular with a vocal minority of disgruntled drivers”, but it “is simply not a big vote-winner”.
With the Conservative Party “trailing” Labour in the polls, “increasingly frantic Tory activists are employing desperate tactics”. Keir Starmer’s party “must not allow itself to be drawn in to this specious new breed of Tory identity politics”.
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Julia O'Driscoll is the engagement editor. She covers UK and world news, as well as writing lifestyle and travel features. She regularly appears on “The Week Unwrapped” podcast, and hosted The Week's short-form documentary podcast, “The Overview”. Julia was previously the content and social media editor at sustainability consultancy Eco-Age, where she interviewed prominent voices in sustainable fashion and climate movements. She has a master's in liberal arts from Bristol University, and spent a year studying at Charles University in Prague.
-
Today's political cartoons - November 3, 2024
Cartoons Sunday's cartoons - presidential pitching, wavering convictions, and more
By The Week US Published
-
Why Man United finally lost patience with ten Hag
Talking Point After another loss United sacked ten Hag in hopes of success in the Champion's League
By The Week UK Published
-
Who are the markets backing in the US election?
Talking Point Speculators are piling in on the Trump trade. A Harris victory would come as a surprise
By The Week UK Published
-
What is the next Tory leader up against?
Today's Big Question Kemi Badenoch or Robert Jenrick will have to unify warring factions and win back disillusioned voters – without alienating the centre ground
By Harriet Marsden, The Week UK Published
-
Meloni's migration solution: camps in Albania
Talking Point The controversial approach is potentially 'game-changing'
By The Week UK Published
-
US election: why can't Kamala Harris close the deal?
Talking Point For the vice-president to win 'we need less mulling and more action in a do-or-die moment'
By The Week UK Published
-
Is Labour risking the 'special relationship'?
Today's Big Question Keir Starmer forced to deny Donald Trump's formal complaint that Labour staffers are 'interfering' to help Harris campaign
By Harriet Marsden, The Week UK Published
-
Hyperbole and hatred: can heated rhetoric kill?
Talking Point Hypocrisy and double standards are certainly rife, but the link between heated political language and real-world violence is unclear
By The Week UK Published
-
The rules on what gifts MPs can accept from donors
The Explainer It's the 'system we have' says Labour cabinet minister as campaigners calls for overhaul of the ministerial code
By The Week Staff Published
-
Men in Gray suits: why the plots against Starmer's top adviser?
Today's Big Question Increasingly damaging leaks about Sue Gray reflect 'bitter acrimony' over her role and power struggle in new government
By Harriet Marsden, The Week UK Published
-
Why is Labour looking to Italy on migration?
Today's Big Question Keir Starmer wants to learn lessons from Giorgia Meloni, but not everyone is impressed with the Albania agreement
By Elizabeth Carr-Ellis, The Week UK Published