It’s time Rishi Sunak slams the brakes on car-crash policies hitting ordinary motorists

Driving UK mad

OUTRAGE over the Ulez expansion in London, and hated clean-air zones around the country, could not be more obvious.

So too the public anger at other schemes hitting ordinary motorists on environmental grounds.

In the headlong dash for Net Zero, it is those least able to afford it who are being hit hardest by punitive green policies.

They are not happy about being financially screwed by woke politicians and campaigners for whom buying an expensive new electric car is no problem.

It’s why Keir Starmer, in hock to the anti-social nutters at Just Stop Oil, is in such a panic, realising that Labour’s own ruinous eco-plans might not be the vote-winner his slavish supporters in the Twittersphere led him to believe.

It’s doubtless also why Rishi Sunak has ordered a review of anti-car schemes such as low-traffic neighbourhoods.

He says he is on the side of the motorists, which is good to hear, but words are not enough, Prime Minister.

Even the Government’s official climate adviser has said the proposed 2030 ban on the sale of new petrol and diesel vehicles — five years earlier, even, than the EU’s — may be too soon.

So why won’t he consider delaying it?

It’s a car-crash policy that is coming down the road at breakneck speed.

It’s time he slammed the brakes on.

Clue it yourself

IT comes to something when Labour tries to sound tougher on crime than the Tories.

But it shouldn’t need politicians on either side of the political divide to tell police they need to up their game when so many crimes go uninvestigated, never mind unsolved.

Shadow Home Secretary Yvette Cooper’s plan to force every police service to hire more detectives follows hot on the heels of Home Secretary Suella Braverman telling them to investigate all crimes that have “a reasonable lead”.

Talk about stating the obvious, but are police chiefs even listening?

Or are they too busy getting their officers to sort out social media spats to bother with burglars or shoplifters?

How else do you explain cops wanting to issue theft-plagued retailers with DIY evidence-gathering kits and get them to write their own crime reports?

At least it might mean some of these crimes are finally looked at. Which is more than has been happening up until now.

Ice cream sauce

AN ice-cream parlour for posh Londoners is serving gelatos flavoured with favourite brands.

Fancy a sorbet with Heinz Tomato Ketchup, or Branston Pickle, or even Birds Eye Petit Pois?

If the tastes don’t leave you cold, then the prices — at £15-a-tub — might make you think they are taking the pea.