Yesterday the Prime Minister resigned. The frontrunner to replace him, Andy Burnham, is the one senior British politician who’s actually built cycling infrastructure at scale, and the man he hired to do it, Olympic gold medallist Chris Boardman, now runs active travel nationally.
So this should be the dream scenario for anyone who wants better streets. It isn’t. This video is about why the right person in the right job still can’t move the needle, and the one structural thing that has to change before a single bike lane does.
It’s not about who’s in charge. It’s about which column the money sits in.
SOURCES
Transport Select Committee evidence, Jan 2025 (Boardman’s £8bn/£16bn costing, DfT 4.3:1 benefit-cost ratio), via Fusion Media: https://www.fusion-media.co.uk/blog/spending-review-analysis-active-travel
Greater Manchester Combined Authority, 2017 (Boardman appointed commissioner): https://greatermanchester-ca.gov.uk/news/olympic-cycling-champion-to-get-greater-manchester-moving-as-first-ever-cycling-and-walking-commissioner/
Chris Boardman, official site (1,800-mile, £1.5bn network): https://www.chrisboardman.com/about.php
Public Accounts Committee, 2023 (£233m cut, no rise in cycling, fewer children walking): https://committees.parliament.uk/committee/127/public-accounts-committee/news/198260/active-travel-government-programme-offtrack-as-funding-reductions-hold-back-progress/
Transport Action Network, 2025 (Spending Review 40% cut): https://transportactionnetwork.org.uk/spending-review-cuts-active-travel-funding-by-40/
Active Travel England, 2025 (£626m allocations): https://www.activetravelengland.gov.uk/news/englands-councils-given-ps626m-walking-wheeling-and-cycling-schemes
2026 Labour leadership crisis / Makerfield by-election: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2026_Labour_Party_leadership_crisis
23 Comments
Looks like the New Forest ?
2:25 hers a solution to less kids walking to school, tax those Karen mobiles (aka SUV otherwise crossovers) high that it's impossible to keep them on the road to ordinary cars – I'm tired of every BS that these Karen's think they need them more than ordinary cars
Interesting to see Boardman pushing anti car, net zero, Agenda 2030.
One can hope he will be more lenient on PEVs and micro mobility as well, y’all need EUCs everywhere
Nothing will change. Just another puppet.
as a swede, i do not think the roads is the part that is needed to be saved in UK. Lets hope your new PM is not worse than Starmer.
Nothing will herald the coming of Nigel Garage more effectively than Burnham. I'm not looking forward to it, but an unelected reasonably far left PM who could likely inflict more misery on motorists will only lose more votes. I say this as someone who enjoys cycling.
I like that the UK is getting its second active transport PM. I really do. The UK needs that.
He likes active transport, but I've seen very little of him using it.
And I say second because he is, hate it as much as you like. And there are many reasons to hate him.
But Johnson was the UK's first active transport PM.
I've not seen any CCTV footage of Burnham riding a bike that wasn't a publicity stunt. But we've all seen the CCTV footage of Johnson almost getting wiped out by a truck while the Mayor of London was riding to another meeting.
The best thing for the UK regarding active transport is Burnham meeting with Johnson. They are the true believers from both the Left and the Right.
I don't think it will happen, but we have two former mayors (and one former and one next PM) believing in the same thing. That is a cross-party unity we need.
like you said in the video, but in more words, the difference between cycling infra for EVERYONE and cycling infra for CYCLISTS are completely different
The poor sod will have everybody and their brother clamouring for increased funding and he'll have some difficult balancing acts to perform. This is not a partisan issue, it affects whichever party is in power. But fingers crossed that he does the sensible thing for active travel! 🙂
Interesting analysis, let's hope things move in a favourable direction, thanks for sharing. 🎉
Dumping the car and using a bike would save the country billions on every level. Why not just let the cyclist use the foot paths,with the proviso that pedestrians have right of way..Where possible of course.
He can start by biking to 10 Downing Street.
We don't need anybody from Blairs party of fossil fuel and genocide enablers whether they ride bikes or not. The majority of Active Travel funding has been spent disproportionately on London, the rest has been spent on general road repairs. Labour are dependent on their funders in the fossil fuel industry, Burnham won't change that.
Good luck we’re all counting on you
These politicians need to realise that cycling infrastructure is not paint and signs on existing roads and pavements. Spending millions of pounds of these is pointless, especially if we get the 'road to nowhere' painted lanes. Also, audit the cost of what is being spent as I honestly believe that paint used for 'cycle lanes' is the most expensive paint on earth, costing millions for a few kilometers. Most important is driver education, followed by enforcement, which would make a positive change.
Active Travel focusses far too much on bling rather that function. Let me explain. If you are to walk somewhere – anywhere- what are you going to do when you arrive? Go shopping? Have a beer? Have a meal? Drop your kids off? Think through what each of these entails. Shopping – great. How do you get your stuff home? What if you are frail? How many shops before you return home? Having a beer is easy. But does the pub have a coat stand? The same goes for a restaurant. Assuming a nighttime meal, is your way home lit? Dropping your kids off – Are their coat racks at school that can take wet coats? Now try to travel by bike. Where do you lock it? Active travel is being built like the pitch in Field of Dreams – build it and they will come. No they won’t, until of course you have fixed the destinations, practicality, storage and security. Finally, the places that MUST start first are local and central government workers and politicians. Make each and every one of them use active travel and/or public transport. No exceptions. Then we’ll find rapidly find solutions.
Can he fix UK cycle infra? Yes. Will he fix it? No.
1:25 Where are you cycling? It seems there is some kind of concrete cobbling on the side to stop vehicles from riding on the verge, but it looks like it pushes cyclists too close to that cobbling. Very anti-cycling if you ask me.
Until we get our priorities right, we will continue down the slippery slope to oblivion.
For decades we have underinvested in absolutely everything. Sadly I can't see that changing.
Burnham is a Globalist / LFI guy – He’ll do what he’s told to and it won’t be things that are in the interests of the British people
The more we all cycle/walk the more they'll have to invest our money to improve active travel.
Been here before with Boris and Cameron. Both were "cycling PMs". Boris probably did more than any in recent years with loads of grants off the back ofcovid, but faced massive public backlash and most new stuff was taken back out (again at huge expense). Cameron presided over the largest cuts to active travel of any modern PM. Things that could have been done to ease austerity ended up being cut in the name of it. Renewable energy, home insulation, food standards monitoring, social work and active travel.