Labour’s war against drivers has been growing for years and looks to have no signs of slowing. First, it was Sadiq Khan’s expanding ULEZ scheme, next was Rachel Reeves’ doubling of car tax fees. Now, proof looks to have emerged that Labour are sitting on their hands when it comes to potholes, despite the Government previously claiming placing potholes as a top priority. Are they just saying what we want to hear? Are they taking us for a ride?
Like I said, saying one thing and doing another. Does Labour care if potholes risk ripping off wheels, destroying suspensions, and leaving cars in the scrapheap? Obviously not. Earlier this year, Greenwich Council was named as one of the worst local authorities in England for pothole management, receiving an official “red” rating from the Government.
The DfT told Express.co.uk that Greenwich specifically received a red rating for a combination of reasons. They stressed that the council's transparency report, at time of publication, set out that they only plan to spend £800k out of DfT’s £813k capital grant in 2025/26. The DfT said they expect all local highway authorities to make full use of the DfT’s funding.
The council was also called out for not providing any road condition data on their B or C roads for 2023 or 2024, which were considered by the ratings, and for not delivering any preventative road surface treatment such as surface dressing.
However, documents from Greenwich Council meetings suggest officials were well aware of their region's pothole problem as many as two years before. In September 2022 and September 2023, councillors were told that the potholes were now in “managed decline”.
In the report, the council heard how “repair and renewal is below the level needed to maintain the current level of service”. They even heard that without action, the policy would be one of “reactive repairs”, while also warning that the cost of repairs would likely “increase over time”.
So if councillors knew all of this over two and a half years ago, what has been done about it? By the looks of it, nothing at all. Data shows that Labour-run Greenwich spent just £2.8 million on its road network over the last financial year, but this is the kicker, only 54% of the funds were spent on “preventive maintenance” to stop potholes forming in the first place.
The rest of the money was spent on short-term repairs to existing damage, which is not going to fix the root cause of the problem. This is a measly performance compared to Conservative-run Harrow, where £ 9.8 million was spent on highway maintenance. More importantly, 86% of the funds were spent on preventative measures in 2024/25. That’s how it’s done.
Meanwhile, the Tory-run borough of Kensington and Chelsea spent 89% of its money on prevention in 2024/25, with Conservative-backed Hillingdon spending 74% on preventive maintenance. Greenwich simply has no excuse, with the council under Labour control since the early 1970s, any problems with their roads can’t be blamed on anyone else but themselves.
Clearly, this is a top priority for Keir Starmer, with the Government committing a hefty £7.3billion to fix roads over the next four years. Throwing money at the issue is one thing, but it only helps if it’s being spent in the right areas. At the end of the day, Labour will only be judged on performance.
In 2024, the Labour Government pledged that a whopping £1.6 billion would be made available to authorities to fix 7 million extra potholes between 2025 and 2026. So if Labour tells us roads are getting fixed, why does data from the AA find that pothole-related callouts in January were up by 18%? That shows the UK’s pothole problem is only getting worse.
Labour needs to pull its finger out, pull its head together and fix Britain’s roads now.
In a statement to Express.co.uk, a DfT spokesperson said: "We are shining a light of transparency on the work of councils to fix roads and end the pothole plague. The suggestion that the Department has mishandled or ignored data is categorically untrue. The ratings follow a clear, published methodology using data from official statistics and highways maintenance transparency reports that local authorities provided themselves.”
Meanwhile, Greenwich Council told Express.co.uk they were finalising a "long-lasting and cost-effective plan" to fix the issues on their roads.
Councillor Calum O'Byrne Mulligan, Cabinet Member for Climate Action, Sustainability and Transport, said: "This country was in a process of managed decline under the previous government and its austerity agenda, which saw central government funding for potholes cut to zero for many years. We welcome the new government's decision to invest a record £7.3bn in local road maintenance across the country.
"In Greenwich, we are matching that increased DfT investment pound for pound, more than doubling our budget for resurfacing roads and filling potholes this coming Financial Year. That means that of the more than £10m we spend on our streets and roads every year £2.6m of that is dedicated exclusively to filling potholes and resurfacing roads and pavements; and our new road condition methodology will ensure that money is spent is the most effective way possible.
“The latest independent data shows that only 2% of our B roads and 4% of our C roads fall into the poorest condition categories. To fix these, we’re currently finalising a long-lasting and cost-effective plan to make sure journeys are smoother and easier for motorists, pedestrians and cyclists, at good value for money for our taxpayers.
"We’re putting our money into making a difference for residents, and we’ll continue to work closely with the DfT, who have themselves acknowledged years of under-funding for UK roads. This has led to the concept raised by industry experts that UK roads are in a managed decline."