The £297m Road Project Being Killed Off to Save Labour’s Welfare Budget
3rd July 2026
From the banks of the river Trent, the ruined stone walls of Newark Castle should be the iconic backdrop to this historic Nottinghamshire market town. But all that’s actually visible on a humid July afternoon is traffic backed up along its famous Great North Road, battling its way to and from the A46. It’s been this way for decades now.
So when National Highways announced “critical investment” to improve the A46 Newark Bypass in February 2022, it wasn’t just the people of Newark breathing a huge sigh of relief. It was seen as a nationally significant trade and export route too. As Heidi Alexander, Secretary of State for Transport, said less than four months ago, upgrading the A46 at Newark “will support sectors such as logistics and manufacturing which are dominant in the local economy and reliant on roads for growth, as well as improving access to Humber ports”.
But then, with one dismissive wave of Keir Starmer’s Defence Investment Plan this week, the £297m project was abruptly shelved. It wasn’t the only roads project immediately mothballed; the A38 Derby Junctions project – also in the East Midlands – was earmarked for “potential cancellation”.