It seems unlikely (you’d hope) that 2023 will see as much political turmoil as 2022, when the UK saw three prime ministers, four chancellors of the exchequer and three transport secretaries. And for motorcycling, that hopefully means more meaningful progress on a range of political fronts. That covers a wide range of matters, from the ending of the sale of new petrol-powered bikes, currently set for 2035, a review of the motorcycle rider licensing regime, road safety improvements, the impact of self-driving technology, access to green lanes for bikes, rider kit PPE regulation, and even side issues like the legal status of step-on e-scooters. Much of this was set to be addressed in a full-bore transport bill last year, but that fell by the wayside, and was withdrawn.
What can motorcycling expect from the political world in 2023 then? The National Motorcyclists Council (NMC) lobbies for two-wheeled issues at Westminster and is cautiously optimistic about the year ahead. We spoke to its executive director Craig Carey-Clinch about the prospects.
“We are in a happier position now that government is in place again,” said Carey-Clinch. “We’re starting to get meetings in the diary with various players and things are starting to happen again. Mark Harper is the new transport minister, and we’ve got a meeting request in with him on a whole range of issues.”
Decarbonisation is high on the agenda for the bike industry. Unlike in the car world, the move to electric power is much more difficult – bikes don’t have the same space, weight or cost margins as cars to allow large batteries. And with the current UK government plan set to end all new petrol motorcycle sales 12 years from now in 2035, ahead of the rest of the world, the NMC is keen to see a broader approach, with E-fuels and other energy sources examined alongside batteries.
The UK government has held a consultation on the end to petrol bike sales, with the 2035 date suggested, but hasn’t made any final decision public as yet. The work of industry lobbyists will be crucial for this momentous change to British motorcycling. If the UK government gets this wrong, imposing a petrol engine ban when the international bike industry has no suitable electric replacements, the impact would be catastrophic.
One major step welcomed by the NMC was the setting up just before Christmas of a strategic group in government to bring together several strands of policy on motorcycling. The Motorcycle Strategic Focus Group, which will be managed by the DfT and the DVSA, will consider a range of issues affecting motorcyclists. For the first time since the early 2000s, there’s a new group to look at motorcycling in the context of broader government policy. That will include many of the areas mentioned above: future connectivity advances and how to embed motorcycling more effectively in future policies and road safety strategies, as well as considering motorcycling in the context of mobility, social inclusion, technical regulation and decarbonisation. And, as part of a focus on developments affecting road safety, the group will also consider the training and testing of riders.
It’s a big agenda for two-wheeled policy wonks to address then. And there’s less time that you might think. Carey-Clinch reckons there’s just over a year to achieve serious change with the next general election on the horizon. “We estimate that if we’re going to initiate major changes, we’ve pretty much got a year to do it. Because after that 12 months you only get another seven months before summer recess 2024 and they won’t want to have a general election over the Christmas period. The last date you can have an election is something like 12 January 2025, so my feeling is they’ll call a general election straight after the conference recess in 2024. We’ve got a lot to do in that time.”