Louise Haigh must do her duty and put her foot down on 20mph zones springing up all over Britain
Braking Britain
WHY would the new Transport Secretary casually let 20mph zones spring up randomly all over Britain?
Louise Haigh is meant to oversee national policy on our roads.
Slashing speed limits from 30mph is a major decision, with significant impact on drivers and on economic growth.
But if local councils decide to do so — and how dearly they love imposing restrictions — she’ll shrug her shoulders.
What an abdication of responsibility.
Let us remind her what happened in Labour-run Wales, the test-bed for a Starmer Government.
They brought in 20mph limits on most roads in built-up areas — and ignored the howls of protest until they no longer could. Now they’re reversing them.
No one credibly objects to slow zones outside schools and hospitals.
Elsewhere a balance must be struck between public safety and drivers’ freedom to go about their business at a reasonable speed.
That sweet spot was struck in 1935 when 30mph became the limit in built-up areas.
And our roads are persistently now rated the safest of any major nation measured by deaths per head of population.
Blanket, unjustified lower limits mean longer journeys, more jams, frustration, inconvenience and economic damage.
Why doesn’t Ms Haigh do her duty . . . and put her foot down?
Bright sparks
MANY kids schlep off to university solely for want of anything better.
And because they are encouraged to believe learning a trade is a lesser option.
Too many then study for degrees employers don’t rate — and waste their 20s in low-paid jobs with the shadow of a vast student loan hanging over them.
So we applaud new Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson for trying to change that mindset and get more school leavers to learn vital skills, from electrical work to brick-laying to IT.
They may end up comfortably out-earning those with a third-rate degree.
It is rich of Labour to pretend to be correcting the Tories’ failure.
Getting vast numbers of our kids to uni was a Tony Blair dream — and it backfired.
But The Sun launched our Builder Better Britain campaign last year to get more school-leavers into the trades.
And we’re delighted the Government’s onside.
Das hoot
DARTH Vader was a Nazi piece of work . . . Star Wars’ evil empire was, after all, based on Hitler’s Third Reich.
So we have to hand it to the German navy, sailing a warship into London for refuelling while its skipper blasted out Vader’s sinister Imperial March theme.
Germans are supposed to lack a sense of humour. Nonsense.
The farce is strong with this one.