Kemi Badenoch launches Conservative ‘Pothole Patrol’ to fix Britain’s broken roads

Fintan Starkey
Wed, 01 Apr 2026 13:05:24 +0000

Kemi Badenoch has unveiled a £225million scheme dubbed the "National Pothole Patrol" aimed at addressing Britain's deteriorating road network.

Half of this funding, totalling £112.5million, will be allocated to supplying hundreds of advanced road-repair machines directly to local authorities across the country.

The initiative follows the Conservative Party's "Golden Economic Rule," which stipulates that at least 50 per cent of any savings must contribute to deficit reduction.

According to the Tories, the programme will be financed through cuts to government spending on external communications consultants, enabling faster and more extensive repairs in the worst-affected areas.

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The scale of Britain's road crisis is stark, with 12.8 million motorists experiencing pothole-related vehicle damage over the past year alone.

Meanwhile, the backlog of necessary repairs has reached a record £18.6billion nationwide.

To streamline the reporting process, the Conservatives are proposing a unified national platform that would replace the fragmented system of individual council websites currently in use.

This centralised approach would allow drivers to flag road defects swiftly, ensuring repair crews can be directed to priority locations more effectively.

The party argues this coordinated strategy would end what it describes as the current disjointed approach to maintaining Britain's road infrastructure.

Labour-controlled councils feature among the poorest performers nationally, with numerous authorities managing to repair fewer than one in ten roads requiring attention.

Birmingham presents a particularly striking example, where just one and a half miles of roadway were restored despite 60 miles being identified as needing work over a twelve-month period.

Department for Transport figures from 2023-24 reveal that Conservative-run councils repaired five times the length of road compared to their Labour counterparts.

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For households already struggling with increased living costs, the party notes that pothole damage creates unforeseen vehicle repair expenses that many families simply cannot absorb.

Ms Badenoch accused the government of "waging a war on drivers" through what she called the first fuel duty increase in fifteen years combined with failure to address road conditions.

"The Conservatives understand the importance of vehicles to families and businesses, that's why we're prioritising the repair of our roads," she stated. "Only the Conservatives are serious about delivering a stronger economy and a stronger country."

Shadow Transport Secretary Richard Holden described motorists as being "in despair as roads across the country crumble," adding that the Pothole Patrol would deliver "a national mission to fix Britain's broken roads, using the latest technology and coordination to get repairs done faster."