Britain may be bad at making things that people in other countries want to buy but it cannot be faulted when it comes to making rules. There is a neverending supply of new restrictions on daily life, many imposed without recourse to the democratic process and enforced by surveillance infrastructure that would not disgrace Orwell’s Airstrip One. These restrictions sometimes emanate from ministers anxious to be seen to be “doing something” to combat evils real or imagined, otiose and poorly drafted legislation that rarely improves on traditional offences honed over centuries.
• Record fines for 20pmh speeding despite PM’s pledge to scrap zones
The real growth area, however, is in the local arena where traffic and other restrictions offer new income streams for councils starved of central government funding. These restrictions are justified on the basis of so-called consultations, mysterious exercises beloved of rule-makers that lend a spurious air of democratic legitimacy to petty forms of oppression. Thus it is with the 20mph zone, a moneymaking bonanza for certain councils that no one has voted for. Rishi Sunak promised to end this “war on motorists”. The result: 216,000 fines for exceeding 20mph last year.
Figures released following a freedom of information request by this newspaper show that the pain of 20mph fines is far from evenly distributed. Motorists in London and the Avon & Somerset police area were most likely to be fined, while those in Lancashire, Lincolnshire and four other forces’ areas were effectively immune. This postcode lottery emphasises the arbitrary nature of this, in some places, rapidly expanding restriction.
It may be a good thing to impose 20mph speed limits in residential areas — slower speeds can mean fewer deaths and serious injuries — but these restrictions are rarely the result of any obvious campaign. They are commonly imposed, springing up suddenly with no mandate, products of faceless town hall officials who know what’s best. The same can be said for those other widely despised council cash cows, low-traffic neighbourhoods. Like 20mph zones they commonly appear out of nowhere, ensnaring drivers who find themselves fined £60 or more for following a traditional route to work or the shops. In 2022 Haringey council in London made £2 million in a four-month “trial” of this racket.
Advertisement
This stealth taxation was never included in a party manifesto, for obvious reasons. But Conservatives and Labour have shown themselves happy to connive in this slow haemorrhaging of individual freedoms. Surveillance technology has facilitated this change. Britain invented automated number plate recognition (ANPR) to catch terrorists and serious criminals. But in line with this country’s record as the surveillance capital of the western world (some 7.3 million CCTV cameras) ANPR is now used to milk money from drivers through fines and charges like London’s Ulez.
Some may think this regime, and the burgeoning surveillance network behind it, an inevitable part of modern life. And so it will be if the public does nothing to challenge its legitimacy. CCTV, ANPR, LTNs: perhaps the majority of Britons are happy with this set-up. But no one knows because no one asked. Thomas Jefferson argued that “government which governs best governs least”. Britain is awash with government, with laws, rules, fines and Peeping Tom officialdom. The British have grown lazy in defence of their liberty. They would do well to remember the boiling frog.
