Jacob Rees-Mogg hints at Whitehall row over whether UK cars should be fitted with speed limiters

Brexit minister Jacob Rees-Mogg hints at Whitehall row over whether British cars should be fitted with ‘Big Brother’ speed limiters to fall in line with EU ruling

  • Speed limiters must be fitted to all new cars sold in the EU from July this year
  • It has been suggested the rule might still be adopted inthe UK – despite Brexit
  • Cabinet minister Jacob Rees-Mogg hints at a Whitehall row over the issue
  • He tells MPs the UK should no longer focus on laws coming from Brussels

Brexit Opportunities minister Jacob Rees-Mogg has hinted at a Whitehall row over whether Britain should copy European Union rules and introduce speed-limiters for new cars.

So-called Intelligent Speed Assist (ISA) technology must be fitted to all new cars sold in Europe from July under new Brussels legislation.

It has been suggested that the rule might still be adopted by Britain, despite the UK’s departure from the EU.

Speed limiters work by using GPS data and traffic cameras to determine the speed limits of each road, and automatically restrict vehicles from breaking the limit – although they can be overridden by drivers.

Quizzed about recent reports that ministers are due to announce a consultation on a range of vehicle safety measures – including a requirement for speed limiters to be fitted to cars – Mr Rees-Mogg intimated his fierce opposition to such a move.

‘It is not a policy that has received collective agreement,’ he told MPs, as he suggested there was an ongoing Whitehall battle over the issue. 

Appearing before the House of Commons’ European Scrutiny Committee, Mr Rees-Mogg was asked whether such plans had been discussed.

He replied: ‘Depends what you mean by discussed. You can read between the lines my views on this.’

Mr Rees-Mogg promised to relay the concerns of committee members to fellow ministers and pointedly said: ‘We are, as a government, a deregulatory government and we are not slavishly following the EU, this is fundamentally important.’

He quipped that he personally was ‘lucky’ to own ‘a couple of very old cars, which will not be retro-fitted with any speed limiter’.

‘Mind you, the eldest one probably wouldn’t get up to much speed anyway,’ he added.

Brexit Opportunities minister Jacob Rees-Mogg suggested there was an ongoing Whitehall battle over the issue of speed limiters

Speed limiters work by using GPS data and traffic cameras to determine the speed limits of each road

Speed limiters work by using GPS data and traffic cameras to determine the speed limits of each road

So-called Intelligent Speed Assist (ISA) technology must be fitted to all new cars sold in Europe from July under new Brussels legislation

So-called Intelligent Speed Assist (ISA) technology must be fitted to all new cars sold in Europe from July under new Brussels legislation

Mr Rees-Mogg had earlier told the committee that the UK should no longer focus on rules coming from Brussels.

‘I see we are thinking – and I better be careful, because this may be Government policy, so I don’t want to upset collective responsibility too much – of putting speed limiters on people’s cars because the EU is doing it,’ he said.

‘Because the EU is doing it is no argument for doing anything any more and we want to get away from this mentality of “Are we diverging or are we not diverging”.’ 

He told MPs the UK needs to look beyond a ‘narrow’ approach taken by the EU when it came to regulations.

‘I’m afraid I think we must get away from this idea of divergence,’ he said on Wednesday.

‘I don’t care what the EU does, any more than I care what the United States does or Singapore does.

‘These are separate regulatory regimes and we don’t always want to be looking over our shoulders saying, “The EU is doing this, so perhaps we should do it too”.’

Earlier this month, the Telegraph reported there would be a government consultation on a range of vehicle safety measures that reduce engine power or set off alarms if drivers exceed the speed limit. 

Conservative MPs hit out at more ‘Big Brother’ technology being fitted to cars, while motoring groups have expressed concern that introducing speed limiters could cause chaos on roads.

In response to the newspaper’s report, a Department for Transport spokesman said: ‘The UK’s departure from the EU provides us with the platform to capitalise on our regulatory freedoms.

‘We’re currently considering the vehicle safety provisions included in the EU’s General Safety Regulation and will implement requirements that are appropriate for Great Britain and improve road safety.’