Truss ready to scrap smart motorways and look at making speed limits advisory

Experiment on roads ‘hasn’t worked’, says frontrunner for prime minister

Liz Truss has said she would scrap smart motorways and is ready to consider ending compulsory speed limits on them if she becomes prime minister next week.

The foreign secretary made the comments in response to a question from a Conservative Party member at its final hustings event of the race to succeed Boris Johnson as leader.

Smart motorways, which include variable speed limits and the use of hard shoulders as carriageways at busy times, are controversial with many Tory members after claims that they increase the risk of accidents.