Potholes are a plague – we’ll repair extra one million a year in boost for drivers, Keir Starmer vows
SIR Keir Starmer is seeking to pave his path to power with a massive blitz on hated potholes blighting Britain’s drivers.
The Labour boss announced there will be an extra one million repairs each year if he gets into Downing Street.
Making his election pitch to motorists, he promised Sun readers: “It is a plague. It’s across the country. We are going to fix it.”
The wannabe PM insisted his plan is “fully costed” and backed by “enough money” – with £320million coming from deferring the controversial Arundel A27 bypass.
It is on top of the £8.3bn the Government has already promised after scrapping HS2, which is set to fill council coffers for road repairs over the next 11 years.
In an interview with The Sun, Sir Keir also shared his love for driving, admitting he still sneaks in some steering time despite a squad of highly-trained bodyguards following him everywhere.
Reminiscing about his first family car, a Ford Cortina, he said: “My dad loved driving. I loved this car.
“When I was about four or five years old, I was outside cleaning the car the whole time.
“So he loved driving. I love driving. I still do drive because I love it. Not as much as I would like and I’m as irritated by the potholes as everyone else, by the way.”
Taking a jab at Rishi Sunak‘s manifesto, Sir Keir also suggested voters would rather see more potholes being fixed than Tory tax cuts.
He said: “If you ask the public do they want more unfunded commitments, which are costing them a fortune on their mortgages, the answer would be a no, thank you very much.”
On fuel duty, Sir Keir once again dodged a direct promise to put the brakes on hikes but praised The Sun’s Keep It Down campaign, which has forced ministers to freeze duties for 13 years in a row.
He said: “The campaign The Sun runs comes up budget by budget and has to be decided budget by budget.
“But our track record on this is pretty consistent with the Sun’s campaign. We’ve actually backed it every time.”
Labour also promised to provide multi-year funding settlements to local leaders to avoid temporary patch-up jobs when it comes to potholes.
AA CEO Jakob Pfaudler welcomed the announcement, saying: “It reflects our call in the AA Motoring Manifesto that showed by far the most important issues for our members, in terms of transport policy, are potholes and the general state of the roads.”