Transport Insights

The Treasury has insisted that the Labour government remains committed to fixing an extra million potholes across England in each year of the Parliament, despite some very contradictory language in yesterday’s Budget document.

And it looks as if funding for local authority highway maintenance may be restored to this year’s level to do this, with a funding announcement deliberately held back to get new headlines.

Yesterday I noted that the Treasury’s official Budget document had redefined Labour’s manifesto commitment as “to fix an additional 1 million potholes per year by the end of the Parliament”, rather than every year along the way

However, a Treasury spokesperson has told me that the “every year” commitment remains intact.

I also noted, correctly, that none of the Budget documents had stated what funding would be for the years between now and 2029-30, when the commitment is over £2bn annually.

This year’s funding is around £1.6bn, which is said to include an “uplift” of £500m on base funding of £500m.

Again, no mention was made of repeating what was announced in last year’s Budget as a one-off uplift, suggesting (to me at least) that it might evaporate.

The Treasury has acknowledged that “the detail” of the years between now and 2029 “is to be announced at a later date”, which means they have deliberately held it back for a subsequent headline-grabbing announcement.

As I have said, the current level of funding will need to be maintained to meet the pothole commitment, so we should expect an announcement that the £500m has been repeated.

Presumably, this will allow ministers to spin a settlement pretty much like this year’s as representing an increase in funding, at the expense of announcing a Budget that includes funding in four years’ time but not next year.

A lot has been said about how the government hinted at what was in the Budget a long way in advance, but it’s playing a similar trick of withholding some numbers so it can get a few positive headlines later.