Motorists have been left frustrated following the King’s Speech after it contained few details as to how the Labour Government will treat the UK’s 42 million driving licence holders.
Earlier today, King Charles officially opened Parliament with the King’s Speech where he outlined what the new Labour Government would be doing to help Britons by setting out a “clear destination for our country”.
It follows Keir Starmer’s victory in the General Election with Labour returning 412 seats for a comfortable majority, which saw the Conservatives lose more than 250 seats.
There had been hopes that the Labour Government would introduce new measures to help motorists, make roads safer and bring fuel and insurance costs down for Britons.
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King Charles presided over the State Opening of Parliament this morning
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Despite this, there was very little included within the King’s Speech for motorists, with more of a focus on building houses, taxing private schools and banning the practice of conversion therapy.
Speaking this morning, King Charles said: “We will improve public transport, transforming our buses and our railways to connect our country. We will bring rail services under public ownership and put passengers at the heart of our transport systems.”
There were also provisions for the Better Buses Bill, which will allow local leaders to take control of their bus services to bring an end to the “postcode lottery” of services.
The Bill is designed to meet Labour’s pledge to improve public transport provisions across the country and “allow every community to take back control of their buses”.
Labour has pledged to fix one million more potholes every year
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However, there was no mention of any of Labour’s motoring manifesto plans, most notably the intention to bring back the original 2030 deadline to ban the sale of petrol and diesel vehicles.
The ban on sales of new internal combustion engine vehicles was changed last September by Rishi Sunak who said there was an opportunity to give motorists to switch to an electric vehicle when they wanted to, rather than having the Government force them to do so.
Other pledges included a plan to crack down on the scourge of potholes found around the country with promises to repair up to a million potholes a year.
This would be boosted by plans for an additional £320million over five years, as well as the £8.3billion already in the Potholes Fund for road repairs between now and 2034.
Labour has pledged to tackle expensive car insurance prices
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Keir Starmer’s party also vowed to boost the number of electric vehicle chargers around the UK with new targets and measures to support local authorities to make better use of chargepoint funding with improved guidance.
This is in addition to removing planning barriers holding up the delivery of chargers and issues securing grid connections for more EV chargers.
Any potential changes to fuel duty were also omitted from the King’s Speech, despite hopes that Labour would take action to slash petrol and diesel prices for motorists.
While Labour did say it would tackle extortionate car insurance costs, Transport Secretary Louise Haigh said this would be done through an investigation by the Competition and Markets Authority and Financial Conduct Authority, rather than a law or bill.
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Many had been hoping for a cut to the rate of fuel duty to improve conditions for motorists
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Commenting on the State Opening of Parliament, Edmund King, AA President, said: “With the motor industry evolving at a rapid rate with the rise of electric vehicles, connected and autonomous vehicles, it is vital that the future workforce is upskilled.
“The creation of Skills England can help encourage apprentices to the automotive sector and help unlock their potential.
“We look forward to working with the Government to tackle the priorities of drivers such as fixing potholes, delivering fuel price transparency and improving road safety.”
