Over a sixth of new Commons strongly support cycling

By Sam Jones
Tuesday, 12 May 2015
Photo by: Andy Parson
CTC has revealed that 114 of the newly elected 650 MPs, including the Prime Minister, have shown their strong support for cycling, as identified via its Vote Bike campaign.

Run for the duration of the election campaign, CTC’s Vote Bike enabled constituents to ask their candidates to support five areas identified as crucial for the future development of cycling in the UK. The questions covered ambition, funding, design standards, safety and positive promotion. 3,286 candidates were contacted of whom 1,058 responded, with 1,013 of them in strong support for these calls.

Following the announcement of a Cycling and Walking Investment Strategy at the end of the last parliament, the future of cycling is looking much more positive. It’s now down to our new MPs and Prime Minister to deliver on the spending and other Vote Bike commitments they made to their constituents. This is vital if we are to at last start to Get Britain Cycling.”

Roger Geffen, CTC Campaigns & Policy Director 

The purpose of the campaign was to identify cycling’s allies before the new Parliament returned to Westminster, and give cycle campaigners the means to hold government to account should this level of support slip.

A particular useful response was received from the Prime Minister, David Cameron, who voiced clear support for creating consistently high design standards for cycling in all highway and traffic schemes, new developments and planned road maintenance work. The previous administration had resisted such calls.

Over the next week, CTC will make contact with the new MPs to congratulate them on their appointment and also to encourage them to join the All Party Parliamentary Cycling Group.

Notes to editors

  1. For further information on CTC, the UK’s largest cycling charity, inspires and helps people to cycle and keep cycling, whatever kind of cycling they do or would like to do. Over a century’s experience tells us that cycling is more than useful transport; it makes you feel good, gives you a sense of freedom and creates a better environment for everyone.
  2. The Prime Minister’s letter to CTC is available to read at: https://www.ctc.org.uk/sites/default/files/media_library/users/SamJones… as is their response to Vote Bike: http://votebike.org.uk/your-area/?constituency=65622
  3. For further information on Vote Bike visit https://www.ctc.org.uk/campaign/vote-bike or to see the breakdown of results visit: www.votebike.org.uk/results
  4. From Vote Bike’s launch on 4683 people sent 26928 emails to 3286 parliamentary candidates, resulting in 1058 responses.

Press contact information

CTC Press Office
Email: [email protected]
Telephone: 0844-736-8453

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