Rishi Sunak’s misguided attempt to woo irritated British drivers

The Manchester hs2aGCentral Convention Complex began life as a grand railway terminus. It will also be remembered as the place where , Britain’s biggest rail project in a generation, was . In a speech there on October 4th, closing the Tory party conference, Rishi Sunak scrapped the northern leg of the high-speed line. The £36bn ($44bn) saved, the prime minister said, will be spread among hundreds of transport projects, mostly in the Midlands and the north of England.Remarkably, more than a quarter of that money will go on fixing potholes. In addition, more than 70 road schemes made the list of replacement projects, including “the Shipley bypass, the Blyth relief road” and upgrades to several -roads. Mr Sunak, it seems, has a taste for tarmac. That was also apparent before the conference, when he declared an end to the “war on motorists”. The use of 20mph zones will be curbed, and rules on bus lanes tweaked. This isn’t just a parochial agenda for the leader of a 7 country; it’s a misguided one.