The Labour party has won the 2024 UK General Election in a resounding landslide, meaning that there will be changes to transport policy. Understandably, Labour buried its motoring policies behind critical topics such as the economy, immigration and taxes.
Motoring issues are still important, though. The Office for National Statistics states that, in 2022, 75% of people in England aged 17 and over held full driving licences. That’s an enormous share of the UK electorate – and one we think politicians could capitalise on.
Because motoring policies affect such a vast swathe of the British public, we thought it would be useful to decipher each party’s manifesto and compile a no-nonsense guide on the changes being proposed for drivers.
What are Labour’s transport offerings?
The 2024 Labour manifesto has five key goals – kickstarting economic growth, bolstering our clean energy industry, tackling crime, reforming the NHS and restructuring the country’s childcare and education systems to allow all young people to achieve their ambitions regardless of their class or economic status.
In addition to tackling all these hard-hitting issues, Labour also has some interesting motoring policies. The party’s biggest proposed change is reinstating the 2030 ban on petrol and diesel cars (reversing the Tories’ decision to push it back to 2035).
Labour also claims it will work to reduce the soaring cost of car insurance and support the switch to electric vehicles by increasing the number of charge points on our roads. The party is yet to provide figures for how many chargers it’ll build or how much the project will cost, though.
On top of that, Labour says it will introduce a new piece of legislation for secondhand electric cars. It will usher in a standardised method of reporting on the condition of used EV battery packs to help drivers make more informed buying decisions.
Lastly, in its fiscal plan, Labour states it will defer the A27 bypass and reallocate that £65 million budget to repair up to one million potholes every year.
What this means for you
The Labour party manifesto was light on detail and the reality is that its pending plans will only be taking form now it’s in government and has access to the books. However, the big news is the reintroduction of the 2030 cutoff for the end of new ICE car sales, although most manufacturers were aiming for this date anyway.
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