Rishi Sunak promises to launch major driving law changes to protect Britons from 20mph roads and huge fines

The Conservatives have consistently placed themselves as the party representing drivers by fighting against anti-motorist policies and protecting Britons when in their cars.

Earlier this week, Transport Secretary Mark Harper and the Conservatives said it would be "slamming the brakes" on motoring costs and ensuring people have the freedom to drive.

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As part of the pledges, he said road pricing schemes would never be introduced, Low Traffic Neighbourhoods and 20mph zones would be subjected to local referendums and the Greater London expansion of the Ultra Low Emission Zone would be scrapped.

This was referenced in the manifesto, with the Conservatives pledging to "back drivers" through the measures announced.

The "Plan for Drivers" aimed to make roads safer, slash costs for motorists and crack down on unfair obstacles that Britain's 40 million licence holders have to deal with.

Speaking over the weekend, Mark Harper said: "We will reverse Sadiq Khan's unfair Ulez expansion and rule out any blanket 20mph zones because we are on the drivers' side."

The Conservatives have also pledged to deliver the PumpWatch scheme - a fuel price checker designed to increase competition among major retailers and supermarkets to bring costs down for motorists.

The scheme will force petrol and diesel retailers to share live information on their prices, allowing drivers to get a fair price at the pumps. This will form part of a new Backing Drivers Bill.

The manifesto adds: "Since 2010, the Conservative Government has consistently been on the side of drivers.

"We have prioritised freezes in Fuel Duty and recently published our ‘Plan for Drivers’ including reforms to make better use of bus lanes, introduce penalties for overrunning street works and implement a consistent approach to the enforcement of entering yellow box junctions.

"Following the recent consultation, we will allow motorcycles in all bus lanes and reform motorcycle licensing."

The Backing Drivers Bill will also expand into Wales, if the Tories are re-elected, with Labour's blanket 20mph speed limits set to be ditched by requiring local consent for these zones. Locals will also have the legal right to challenge existing zones.

Drivers will also be backed by the rollout of the National Parling Platform to simplify the way that motorists pay for parking, based on feedback from elderly drivers and disabled people.

Councils will also be given the power to ban pavement parking, as long as they engage with businesses and residents to ensure they are not adversely impacted.

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The manifesto also outlines how the Conservatives will commit to its pledge to build no new smart motorways - as announced in 2023 - while also investing in improving the safety of new ones.

Drivers will also be supported if they want to invest in an electric vehicle, with the Conservative Government already unveiling the Zero Emission Vehicle mandate to instruct major manufacturers to have a minimum amount of sales be electric by the end of the year.

Another key policy includes pledges to invest £36billion in local roads, rail and buses, headlined by an £8.3billion investment to the Potholes Fund.

While included in the manifesto, the funding has already been pledged, with the funding set to help repair roads across England for the next 11 years.

It comes just one day after the newly-created Pothole Partnership called on all political parties to increase funding for roads amid a plague of issues with Britain's roads.

The organisation highlighted how vehicles suffer around £14billion worth of damage every year from potholes on English roads, with the £8.3billion funding boost coming from the cancelled second phase of HS2.

In reaction to the Conservative manifesto and their announcements on transport Richard Hebditch, UK Director at Transport & Environment, said: “The Conservatives are clearly taking energy security seriously, so it's baffling that there isn’t a focus on policies to reduce the UK's reliance on foreign oil.

"Electric cars and trucks are dirt cheap to run, don't drench the air with pollution and don't rely on Middle Eastern oil. The 2019 manifesto committed the Conservatives to ‘lead the global fight against climate change’.

"Watering down ambition serves no-one and undermines the cross-party consensus on which the UK’s strong progress has been built.”