80mph motorway speed limit still under consideration
Despite the Government dropping the idea of moving the motorway speed limit from 70mph to 80mh, amid fears that the change may alienate women voters, the idea may still re-surface. Transport Secretary, Patrick McLoughlin had stated that the idea, initially proposed by Phillip Hammond, had been dropped and was no longer a priority. However Stephen Hammond, a transport minister, has suggested that there is still disagreement over the issue within senior coalition members. Stephen Hammond told the Telegraph : “Mr [Philip] Hammond is a great supporter of 80 miles per hour. He thinks it’s the right thing to do. “That’s not a universal view among my colleagues and at the moment, because there are a huge number of other things on, we have not stopped work on it but it’s not a priority. “Given that a lot of people travel at 80 miles per hour and we could enforce 80 miles per hour, at some stage we will want to come back and look at it.” Phillip Hammond, speaking at the 2011 Conservative Party conference, stated that higher speed limits would benefit the economy due to faster journey times. However measures to enforce a higher speed limit would require cameras measuring average speeds on all motorways, the cost of which could offset any economic benefit.