RAC comments on motoring pledges within the Conservative election manifesto

RAC chief engineer David Bizley said: “The Conservatives’ continued commitment to investing in the strategic road network to ease congestion and add resilience, and tackling the perennial problem of potholes, is a positive sign, although there is little that is new here.The £15bn Road Investment Strategy was published in December 2014 and motorists will simply want to see that the associated projects are delivered to plan. On potholes, what is needed is firm action that tackles the route cause which is a chronic under-investment in preventative maintenance over many years. Local authorities need the certainty of adequate funding over a sustained period, so they can plan their maintenance programmes more effectively.

“There is no commitment in the manifesto to continuing the freeze on fuel duty, the toughest form of taxation on the motorist, in the long term. Indeed, this is something that is also lacking in other party manifestos. While this suggests there is little appetite to look at this, we call on all the main political parties to make their position on fuel duty crystal clear, so that motorists are not unfairly hit with a nasty surprise when the new government takes office after May 7.”