Backing motorists won’t save Rishi Sunak

The lesson from the Uxbridge by-election was clear to both parties: the public will not accept green policies at any price. Whilst in general, the public support cutting carbon emissions and other forms of pollution – support drifts away fast when people are confronted with measures which threaten to make them poorer and their lives more difficult.

But now Rishi Sunak risks falling into another trap: aligning himself too closely with his party’s Mr Toad tendency. Announcing a Department for Transport review into low traffic neighbourhoods (LTN), the Prime Minister this morning has sided heavily with motorists, declaring ‘the vast majority of people in the country use their cars to get around and are dependent on cars. I just want to make sure people know that I’m on their side in supporting them to use their cars to do all the things that matter to them.’

That may serve the Conservatives, up to a point.