Lord Moylan (Con)

My Lords, I was just coming to the point of saying that—as the noble Lord, Lord Pack, pointed out—we are now seeing personal safety and road safety being sacrificed on the altar of net zero. It is undoubtedly the case that heavier vehicles have a greater impact when an accident takes place. I am not claiming, nor did the noble Lord claim, that they are more likely to have an accident but they will certainly have a greater impact. This is exactly the same physics that lies behind the argument that speed limits in city areas should be cut. The impact is a function of the speed times the mass. If you increase the mass, you are putting back—so to speak—what you have gained by reducing speed limits in cities. That is what the Government are doing. They are playing recklessly with personal safety on the road, including that of vulnerable users in particular, such as pedestrians and bicyclists, as well as those driving other motor vehicles. There is a further point that was not mentioned by the noble Lord, Lord Pack: the effect on the roads themselves. The roads in this country in many places are breaking up. It is not simply a matter of potholes now but of another complete dereliction by the department. In many cases, the base of the road is being damaged because maintenance is being neglected. It is no good the Government saying they put a certain amount of money into it—which is what they always say when this point is brought up—because it is not having an effect on the roads. The roads are breaking up. A lack of maintenance means that the effect is not simply on the surface—the potholes—but on the base. Very often you can see that on many rural roads, which are breaking up, and a huge bill is being stored. Part of that is to do with heavier vehicles. Some of those heavier vehicles—all the heavy SUVs and so on—are heavier for reasons that I do not personally approve of. Another reason is that we are actively encouraging heavier vehicles, and doing so through measures such as this one. We did it through the amendments to the driving licence provisions, which we dealt with late last year. Now we are doing it in relation to the testing regime and the drivers’ hours rules for vans. The Government are driving forward, and they are very much driven by net zero, with no regard for the consequences for personal safety and road surfaces—and now, of course, we need to add the bridges. I say on a personal note that, years ago, I used to have some responsibility for Albert Bridge as a local councillor, and I see that it is now closed. At that time, we spent quite a lot of money bringing Albert Bridge up to a standard where it could bear and be safe for 3-tonne vehicles—that would be the weight limit. Now that 3-tonne limit is almost of historical interest, so another bridge across the river in London is being taken out of use. What is the Government’s plan for this? There is no plan for any of this. They have not thought about any of these things; they just drive ahead recklessly with net zero. Although this measure appears to have a purely technical character, it is very significant in a number of respects that I have set out in my speech. The Government need to start taking these things seriously, because otherwise they will be abandoning their transport-related duties. That is something we will constantly highlight and oppose.