Jim McMahon – 2021 Comments on Smart Motorways

The press release issued by Jim McMahon, the Shadow Secretary of State for Transport, on 12 February 2021.

Labour urges Government to take action on smart motorways to prevent more deaths

Labour has once again demanded the Government take action on smart motorways to prevent more fatalities, after it emerged Highways England could face charges over the death of a woman.

During Transport Questions in the Commons last month Grant Shapps, the Transport Secretary, was called on by Labour’s Jim McMahon to “commit, the minute this session finishes, to pick up the phone and to issue the instruction to re-instate the hard shoulder on smart motorways because god forbid we’ll be here again reviewing more deaths if action isn’t taken”.

It followed a coroner’s inquest into the deaths of Jason Mercer, 44, and Alexandru Murgeanu, 22, on a smart motorway in 2019.

McMahon, Labour’s Shadow Transport Secretary, has written to the Government to ask again for the hard shoulder on smart motorways to be reinstated while promised safety reviews are ongoing.