More investment in cycling could transform Britain’s transport system and improve health. But that will only happen if we vote tactically against the Conservatives
The genius of Donald Trump and Boris Johnson is that they know that there are now large swathes of the population who don’t care if their favoured politician tells untruths or not.
This new politics was in evidence at the national cycle hustings at the modern Brompton bike factory in west London on 3 December, when minister for transport Chris Heaton-Harris declared that the Tory manifesto pledge to spend £70m per year more on cycling across England “would be transformative”.
He added: “It allows communities to build proper safe cycling lanes, giving confidence to commuters, parents, and fair-weather cyclists like myself.”
His department estimates that a protected cycleway can cost £1.5m per kilometre. The UK has 47,000 km of main roads and 344,000 km of paved roads in total. So 46 km is hardly a drop in the ocean.
What is disturbing is that he knows that saying it will be “transformative” was untruthful, yet he spouted it at the national hustings anyway, to an audience he knew would know he was being untruthful. He knew his voters would not care.
When challenged on the paucity of their funding, he ranted about how, unlike the other parties, there was no money tree in the Tory manifesto and that £70m “was a realistic and bold pitch.”

The Tories say they are serious about cycling – but their manifesto says otherwise | The Independent
More investment in cycling could transform Britain’s transport system and improve health. But that will only happen if we vote tactically against the Conservatives The genius of Donald Trump and Boris Johnson is that they know that there are now large swathes of the population who don’t care if their favoured politician tells untruths or… [Read More]