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Highways (Financing) Bill Passes Commons Second Reading

MPs backed the Highways (Financing) Bill on 15 October after rejecting a Conservative amendment 76-231. It sets up tolled, privately financed roads.

ByPeter Peters
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MPs gave the Highways (Financing) Bill its second reading on 15 October, approving in principle a new way to pay for major roads in England. Before the bill passed, the Commons rejected a Conservative reasoned amendment, a motion to refuse the bill a second reading, by 231 votes to 76. The bill now goes to a Public Bill Committee, which must finish by 24 November.

At a glance

  • Bill: Highways (Financing) Bill, a government bill introduced on 10 September (bills.parliament.uk).
  • Vote: Conservative reasoned amendment defeated 76-231; the bill was then read a second time without a further division.
  • First project: the Lower Thames Crossing, east of London.
  • Next: line-by-line scrutiny in a Public Bill Committee, due to end by 24 November.
Rows of green leather benches in a debating chamber under soft light, seen from a low angle
AI-generated illustration

What the bill does

The bill applies the regulated asset base model to trunk roads in England. Under that model, a licensed private investor finances, builds and runs an asset and earns a return set by a regulator. Transport minister Justin Madders told MPs the model already funded the Thames Tideway Tunnel and Sizewell C, but this is “the first time it will be used on a road network,” according to Hansard.

  • Licences: a licensing authority can let a company charge tolls in return for building, maintaining or improving a specified highway. The minister said licences can cover only new projects, capacity upgrades or a road already licensed, and only trunk roads.
  • Regulator: the Office of Rail and Road becomes the independent economic regulator, with powers to monitor performance, issue penalties and revoke a licence.
  • Toll collection: it updates toll laws, some dating from the 18th century, so operators can use free-flow systems that charge drivers without booths.

Madders said the bill “is not and will never be national road pricing by the back door” and that government policy is to use tolls normally only for costly river and estuary crossings.

Why the Lower Thames Crossing matters

The minister said the push for the bill “stems from the lower Thames crossing,” which would almost double road capacity across the Thames east of London. Its 2.6-mile twin tunnels would be the country’s longest road tunnels. Labour MP Jim Dickson, whose Dartford seat contains the existing crossing, said it was built for 135,000 vehicles a day but now averages 150,000. Conservative MP Mark Francois said he had asked three times which institutions would fund the 85% to 90% of the cost expected from private finance, and had no answer.

What supporters and critics say

Shadow Transport Secretary Richard Holden said his party backs the crossing but opposes what he called “sweeping powers” to bring in road charging across England through secondary legislation. He pointed to clause 81, which lets ministers direct that a road becomes a trunk road. His amendment also called for any new charging to need parliamentary approval and matching cuts in fuel duty.

Labour’s Mike Reader, a civil engineer by background, said investors he consulted saw the model as a way to lower the cost of capital. Liberal Democrat spokesperson Olly Glover said key questions on tolls and oversight are “largely undefined” and left to secondary legislation, so his party would “not take a view” on the bill at this stage. Several Labour MPs, including Ruth Cadbury and Jen Craft, asked whether the regulator would have enough power to hold toll operators to account.

Analysis: The vote settles the principle, not the price. The questions MPs raised most often, such as toll levels, who finances the crossing and how far ministers can widen tolling, now move to committee, where the government can expect amendments on parliamentary approval for new charges.

What happens next

  • Committee stage: MPs on a Public Bill Committee will examine the bill clause by clause, finishing by 24 November.
  • Report and third reading: the whole House can then amend it again before a final Commons vote.
  • House of Lords: the bill then goes through the same stages in the Lords before it can receive Royal Assent.

Sources

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