Britons are preparing to see a raft of driving law changes in the coming years following Labour’s landslide victory in the general election this week.
Keir Starmer’s dominated the polls, winning 412 seats in a stunning election campaign that saw the Conservatives lose 250 seats and oust Rishi Sunak as Prime Minister.
As Labor takes control of Parliament in the coming days, motorists will look to the party to improve their lives, cut costs and crack down on schemes that make it harder to get behind the wheel.
Following the landslide election victory, GB News has rounded up the driving law changes and motoring promises that could be implemented under a Labor government in the near future.
Do you have a story to share? Contact by emailmotoring@gbnews.uk
Labor said it would weigh the case against the budget for fuel tax
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Fuel duty
Millions of drivers have dealt with expensive petrol and diesel over the past two years, despite a 5p per liter fuel tax cut extended by the Conservative government in successive spring budgets.
Keir Starmer spoke to GB News about the future of fuel tax cuts and what Labor would do to reduce the pressure on motorists at the pumps. He told political editor Christopher Hope: “Obviously we’re very sensitive about fuel because we know the impact.
“Every year we’ve supported a position to keep it frozen. It’s a budget-by-budget issue, but I would tell anyone who has concerns about this to check our track record.”
“We’ve always said freeze the fuel tax.” That’s our long history and we’re doing it for a purpose.”
Labor will seek to reduce the cost of car insurance for hard-pressed motorists
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Car insurance
The cost of motor insurance has also been a problem for millions of Britons since the pandemic, with some drivers seeing average costs of up to £3,000, while others struggle to get cheap deals despite being a reliable driver.
Louise Haigh, who is expected to be transport secretary once Keir Starmer unveils his cabinet, has spoken of the need for Labor to tackle high prices as around a million people have canceled their insurance as costs have reached unaffordable levels .
This will include calling on the Competition and Markets Authority and the Financial Conduct Authority to investigate whether insurers are engaging in unfair practices, such as the postcode lottery, which could unfairly target ethnic minorities and those on lower incomes.
Labor has pledged to fix a million more potholes every year BYEPotholes
The new majority party has pledged to fix a million more potholes every year to cope with costly repairs. It is estimated that there are now 100 times more potholes on the roads than there are craters on the moon.
In a previous speech, Louise Haigh said: “The Conservatives have left Britain’s pothole-ridden roads and settled because the cost of car insurance has spiraled out of control.”
Labor says investment in local road maintenance would deliver benefits of around £6.50 for every pound spent, compared to less than £2 from the A27 bypass.
Labor will renew the 2030 deadline for banning the sale of new petrol and diesel cars
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No cars allowed
Keir Starmer and Labor have been actively backing a return to the original 2030 date to ban the sale of new petrol and diesel cars and vans, although Rishi Sunak moved the date back last September in sweeping net zero regulatory changes.
In the ‘Change’ manifesto, Labor said it would “give manufacturers certainty by bringing back the phase-out date for new combustion engine cars to 2030”.
At the time of the original announcement by Rishi Sunak, Labor said it was an ill-advised idea to introduce such a massive change that would affect drivers and the industry with very little notice.
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Labor says it will introduce so-called ‘EV battery passports’
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Electric cars
As with most other political parties, Labor has promised to see the rapid roll-out of new public electric car chargers.
According to data from Zapmap, there are 64,775 public charging points in the UK at 33,829 different locations, with more than 2,000 installed in June 2024. There is still hope that the UK will have 300,000 chargers installed by the end of the decade.
People looking to buy used electric vehicles will also be encouraged by a promise to “standardize the information provided on battery health” with so-called EV battery passports, which are due to become a requirement in the European Union in 2027.