Ministers have quietly cut England’s road-building and repair budget for the coming year, with a £4.8bn funding pot for major highways being around 5 per cent lower than the current allocation.
Sir Keir Starmer declared that the sum announced last week for National Highways would “deliver vital road schemes and maintain major roads across the country to get Britain moving”.
But the figure for the year 2025-26 is lower than the £5.07bn the agency receives in the current financial year, according to details published in the agency’s budget, industry figures said.
National Highways — which was previously called Highways England and deals with major roads — usually receives funding for five-year regulatory periods set by the transport department. The current five-year period concludes at the end of this month, while the next will not begin until April 2026. The £4.8bn was a one-year settlement to bridge the gap.
One government official admitted that the 2024-25 figure was higher than that for the coming year — but he stressed the £4.8bn figure was still higher than the average of £4.6bn from the current five-year programme that is about to end.
“Funding will fluctuate year on year as schemes are in different phases of delivery,” he said.
The Department for Transport also highlighted the £4.6bn figure, and said the “interim funding is to progress existing road schemes such as the A428 Black Cat” — a reference to a roundabout project in Bedfordshire on a crucial road system linking Milton Keynes and Cambridge.
It added: “We are committed to delivering road infrastructure which boosts growth and connectivity, and are working on the next multiyear road investment strategy for a long-term approach to achieve this.”
Ministers also this week announced a “record” £1.6bn fund for councils to help fix local potholes. Transport department officials said this was more generous than in previous years, but were unable to give equivalent data because of the way the figure is calculated.
Liberal Democrat local government spokesperson Vikki Slade called the cuts to National Highways’ budget “shocking”.
She said: “Our roads are crumbling and we are in the midst of a pothole pandemic. The Conservatives slashed funding for our transport and maintenance works. The Labour Government seem content to follow the Conservatives’ terrible record and hope no one notices.”
Noble Francis, economics director at the Construction Products Association, said that road building had declined over the past three years, and the industry is expecting another fall this year after the government delayed its planned roads investment strategy and cut projects including the Stonehenge Tunnel in the last Budget.
“The government keeps talking about investment and growth but cutting road projects isn’t the way to deliver that. What is needed is government investment that will give the private sector the confidence to invest in jobs and technological innovation,” he said.
Stephen Glaister, emeritus professor of transport at Imperial College, said he was disappointed by the cuts given that roads carry 90 per cent of freight and 90 per cent of passengers in the UK.
“Correctly chosen road schemes offer some of the most productive investment available,” he said. “Congestion and poor road maintenance are very damaging to economic growth but both this government and the previous have delayed the five year road strategy, which threatens confidence.”
The AA said that private motorists contribute £43bn a year in tax to the Treasury, according to its calculations.
“Cancelling road projects and not reducing congestion hits haulage efficiency and therefore creates a drag on UK business. That is at odds with government ambitions to improve economic growth.”
