UK motorways could see speed limits hiked to 80mph in plan to axe 'outdated' road rules

Felix Reeves
Mon, 13 Apr 2026 15:44:24 +0000

Speed limits across the UK should be raised, according to one of the major political parties, in a move that would boost productivity and remove "outdated" rules.

Restore Britain has outlined new policies that would see motorways across the UK hiked to 80mph if the party were to be elected at the next General Election.

Rupert Lowe, Leader of Restore Britain, described the current 70mph speed limits as "outdated, slow and unnecessary".

The Restore Britain MP for Great Yarmouth continued, saying: "It is holding back enterprise, and costing taxpaying Brits hours on the roads.

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"They were designed for a different time, with different cars - 80mph is a sensible compromise."

Mr Lowe added that he was "delighted" to have the support of billionaire Elon Musk, who reposted the party's explanation on social media site X, formerly known as Twitter.

He noted that the 80mph speed limit policy "made sense", especially if the owner of Tesla is backing the measures.

"Restore Britain is the only political party putting forward common sense policies that will back British motorists," Mr Lowe concluded.

There have previously been calls for the Government to hike speed limits on the motorway, with numerous petitions achieving tens of thousands of signatures.

In one instance, a petition called for speed limits to be raised to 100mph on motorways and 80mph on dual carriageways.

The creator of the petition described the current speed limit as being "too restrictive" and did not account for modern vehicle technology and improved driving standards.

Similarly, Sir Bill Wiggin, the former Conservative MP for North Herefordshire, backed higher limits, noting that it would boost productivity, and even suggested that the M50 in his former constituency would be "perfect" for testing.

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A spokesperson for the Department for Transport said: "The Government has undertaken no recent assessment on increasing national speed limits and we have no current plans to undertake such an assessment on the basis of traffic flow or other factors.

"The safety of road users is our priority, and any change to speed limits would be evidence-led, looking at the impact on safety, air quality and carbon emissions as well as traffic flow and other road conditions."

It added that it is "complex" to model whether economic benefits would be realised based solely on reduced journey times, especially when taking the impact on road safety into account.

Mr Lowe, who was previously a Member of the European Parliament for the West Midlands, also indicated that Restore Britain would take aim at 20mph zones.

The party suggested that it would remove all arbitrary 20mph speed limits, except outside schools and areas with vulnerable individuals.

Councils and local authorities across the country have been headstrong in rolling out new 20mph speed limits, despite backlash to the schemes.

Data from Transport for London revealed that 20mph speed limits on borough roads have led to a 34 per cent drop in people being killed or seriously injured, with this jumping to 50 per cent of children.

As part of London Mayor Sir Sadiq Khan's Vision Zero action plan, TfL will support boroughs to deliver more 20mph schemes on roads across the capital.