All you need is love (for cycling): Cycling UK at the Labour Party conference

By Monica Scigliano
Friday, 27 September 2024
A group of nine people is standing in the rain on a cobbled path in front of a canal. They are holding a banner reading Sustainable Transport Alliance, it's time to get a shift on. One has a bike, one has an umbrella
Members of the Sustainable Transport Alliance, which includes Bus Users UK, Campaign for Better Transport, Community Rail Network, CoMoUK, Community Transport Association, Living Streets, Sustrans and Cycling UK, getting together in Liverpool
Cycling UK’s senior policy officer, Monica Scigliano, and director of external affairs, Sarah McMonagle, headed to Liverpool last week for the Labour Party’s largest-ever party conference. Monica shares her experiences and takeaways

The torrential rains of last week didn’t stop thousands of Labour party members, activists and lobbyists from streaming to Liverpool, armed with banners, leaflets and cautious optimism. Sarah and I joined them for three days of fringe events (including two of our own) and meeting with MPs.

To kick things off, we co-hosted a panel event on the connections between air quality and active travel (walking, wheeling and cycling) together with the Healthy Air Coalition and the Labour Climate and Environment Forum.

Sarah, Olivia Blake (Sheffield Hallam MP), Rezina Chowdhury (Lambeth Council deputy leader), Shanika Mahendran (Milton Keynes councillor and Labour Climate and Environment Forum programme manager), Dr Camilla Kingdon (paediatrician and Healthy Air Coalition chair) and Mete Coban (Deputy Mayor of London for Environment and Energy) spoke passionately about the urgency of replacing car journeys for cleaner modes like cycling and walking, as well as electrifying buses and trains.

A group of four people is standing in the rain holding umbrellas in a cobbled street in Liverpool
Ruth Cadbury MP, Lilian Greenwood MP, Sarah McMonagle and Simon O’Brien provide remarks before embarking on a walk and bike ride in rainy Liverpool

A theme that emerged throughout the conversation was that air quality is a social justice issue: people who contribute the least to toxic air are often the most impacted. Panellists also agreed that the public lacks awareness about the health dangers of air pollution, which is the single largest environmental factor in public health in the UK.

Following the panel, we braved the downpour for a walk and bike ride around the docks together with Living Streets and Labour Cycles and Walks.

Before setting off we got to hear from Ruth Cadbury (new chair of the Transport Select Committee), Lilian Greenwood (new Minister for the Future of Roads) and Simon O’Brien (Liverpool City Region cycling and walking commissioner) on their visions for getting more people to cycle.

A man in a suit is giving a talk on a stage. There's a screen behind him reading Labour in government: King's speech, building a better transport system. There's another man in a suit standing in front of the stage
Simon Lightwood (MP for Wakefield and Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Local Transport) speaks about improving active travel and public transport

Living Streets’ public affairs and campaigns coordinator Zak Viney then led part of the group on a walk while Cycling UK’s public affairs officer Tomos Owens led a bike ride, attended by Fabian Hamilton, co-chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Cycling and Walking. Voi kindly provided e-bikes for other attendees.

I was impressed by how many other events at the conference focused on active travel and public transport. Clearly, there are many people who want to move around in healthier, more sustainable ways and it appears that the new UK government is listening.

Simon Lightwood, the new Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Local Transport, highlighted the critical role of cycling and walking in the Labour government’s health and economic missions.

Two people, a man and a woman, are standing in front of a white picket fence. The woman is holding a cup of tea
Simon Opher, doctor and new MP for Stroud, meets Cycling UK’s Sarah McMonagle

There was also a lot of enthusiasm for cleaner, greener transport from Labour metro-mayors like Oliver Coppard, Tracey Brabin and Andy Burnham, who are all using greater devolution to improve public transport and active travel in their regions.

In meetings with MPs such as Simon Opher and David Burton-Sampson we again heard that decision-makers understand the importance of getting more people cycling for several reasons, especially preventative health.

We left Liverpool excited about the potential for more political action to increase cycling levels, but there is a huge amount of work to be done. Conversations frequently turned to the improvement in cycling infrastructure and consequent increase in cycling in London.

The reality is that in much of the rest of the UK, progress has been much slower, and cycling has yet to be normalised. Cycling UK will continue pushing the UK government to put its money where its mouth is and invest in cycling.

Election 2024 Campaigner and activist

Further reading