What does the pledge mean?

Labour’s manifesto pledges to “fix an additional one million potholes across England in each year of the next parliament”.

This pledge appears quite specific—it gives a precise number, timeframe and geographical scope, while the word “additional” implies the government intends to fix one million more potholes than are currently being fixed each year.

There is no nationally-agreed definition of a pothole, and the size and depth of what might be counted as one may vary between local authorities. The lack of specific information in this field was highlighted in a January 2025 Public Accounts Committee report—the committee said the government “does not know enough to understand what state roads are in due to poor data”.

There are some broad industry estimates for the number of potholes however, and the number filled.

For example, the RAC has estimated there are on average around six potholes per mile on council-controlled roads in England and Wales, which mostly includes those carriageways designated B and lower.

Government statistics show in 2022 there were around 213,200 miles of “minor roads” in Great Britain, while in July 2024 the National Audit Office estimated there were 183,000 miles of “local roads” in England. So these figures suggest there could be as many as one million potholes in England at any given time. Ahead of the 2024 election, the Labour party cited a similar figure in relation to the UK as a whole, which we wrote about at the time.

Meanwhile the Asphalt Industry Alliance (AIA) estimated in its Annual Local Authority Road Maintenance (ALARM) report that councils in England filled 1.9 million potholes in the 2024/25 financial year. That would suggest that for the government to meet its pledge, at least 2.9 million potholes a year would need to be filled.

There are some caveats around the AIA’s figure however. For example, it is based on extrapolated data from a survey of local authorities, with the most recent survey having a response rate of 78% in England and Wales. And as mentioned above, there is variation in the way local authorities count potholes.

The poor conditions of local roads across England has led the chair of the AIA, David Giles, to question whether fixing an additional one million potholes each year will be enough “to have any real impact” on the network.

What progress has been made?

The lack of reliable comparable national potholes data makes it difficult to track the delivery of this pledge. But a Full Fact investigation, based on our analysis of over 150 local highway maintenance transparency reports, suggests Labour is likely to struggle to deliver on its pledge in the short term at least.

Our analysis found that 85 authorities estimated that in 2025/26 they will between them fill in roughly the same number of potholes as they did in 2024/25. Although we don’t have projections for all 154 local highway authorities, it seems unlikely the remaining 69 will fill in an additional million between them—so as things stand we’re now rating this pledge as “appears off track”.

On 20 December 2024, the government announced that £1.6 billion would be made available to authorities across England for 2025/26 to “repair roads and fill potholes”, an increase of £500 million on the amount assigned in 2024/25.

At the time, a spokesperson for the Department for Transport told Full Fact: “This will enable local authorities to fix up to seven million more potholes this year, going well beyond our original commitment of one million more potholes annually.”

This estimate was based on the average cost of filling a pothole in England and Wales being around £70, a figure also quoted by the AIA. Filling seven million potholes at a cost of £70 each would cost £490 million.

On 23 March 2025 the government announced that local authorities in England will only receive their “full share of the £500 million roads pot” if they publish “annual progress reports and prove public confidence in their work”, while those that do not will see 25% of the increase withheld.

Councils had until 30 June 2025 to publish these reports on their websites, which include detail on how much they’re spending and how many potholes they’ve filled. In January 2026, the government published a list of these reports, and gave highway authorities a rating based on the current condition of local roads, how much the authorities are spending on road maintenance, and how effectively they are following “best practice in highways maintenance”.

In its 2025 Budget, the government said £7.3 billion was allocated to local roads over the next four years and that 30% of local roads funding, “worth more than £500 million” would be “tied to transparency”. It said: “Councils can only unlock the funding if they publish clear pothole and maintenance data and follow best practice”.

A Budget factsheet said there would be funding of “over £2 billion annually by 2029/30” for “local authorities to repair, renew and fix potholes on their roads”.

We’ve asked the Department for Transport if there will be standardised definitions of potholes going forwards, and if the next batch of transparency reports will be published by 30 June 2026. We will update this page if we receive a response.