Fiona Bruce MP is calling on the Government to significantly increase investment in UK roads. The Fairfuel UK All Party Parliamentary Group, of which Fiona Bruce MP is a member, held a meeting in Parliament to discuss a new report by the Centre for Economics and Business Research on the effects of road investment.
The report showed that the UK’s highways lag behind European counterparts. Having built a total of just 46 miles of new motorway between 2000 to 2009, its road infrastructure is now ranked 27th in the world - 11 places behind Germany and 21 behind France. Furthermore, despite 90% of all journeys taken by road in 2016, rail travel received nine times more investment.
The report revealed that drivers pay £35bn in tax each year - yet only 18.3% of this goes back into roads. It also showed that 37 million drivers consistently pay the highest tax at the pumps worldwide - first for diesel and fifth for petrol. These findings follow a detailed survey of Fairfuel supporters from across the UK, where over 6,000 respondents identified roads that need to be either improved or new ones to be built in their regions.
Fiona Bruce MP said
“The report highlights that we are in major need of new and improved roads in the UK. I was shocked to hear for example, that in the next 13 years, congestion is estimated to cost the country £300 billion. It shows conclusively that investing in road improvements and new highways is economically, socially and environmentally beneficial. It will cut congestion, reduce emissions and massively improve the economy.”
“If the same investment of HS2 was to be spent on roads, based on historic averages for road investment, there would be benefits of £250.7 billion to the economy. This is more than four times the expected net benefits of the entire HS2 network. It is about time that roads get the investment they so clearly need. ”