Invest in highways– some motorway widening, many bus-priority systems, multiple highway widening, better routine maintenance, highway enhancement programmes, new taxi-licensing systems – there is no need for many new motorways, in the manner of the rumoured Birt proposals – the Birmingham Northern Relief Road is exceptional, and even with its distinctive commercial advantages, it could still fail – do not go down that road;

Invest heavily in emission-reduction, and in bus/coach design, and devise new ways of introducing new and modern buses quickly onto the roads, before the next Election – better buses on the roads would be the best advertisement for Labour’s success, much better than more, expensive and problematical, tilting trains for the wealthy middle-classes.

Having firmly assured the road-using community that Labour is “on their side” (as Stephen Byers was starting to do), introduce comprehensive daily charging for all highway usage – for all weekday usage.  This could be done cheaply, if electronic tracking were to be abandoned.  Usage would remain free overnight and at weekends – also for rural residents.  This process would demand the most enormous political skill, but you have that in abundance.  The Charge would be a powerful revenue generator in the longer-term, permanently driving down highway usage levels: other road taxes could be reduced, which would be popular.