Shadow chancellor Ed Balls has confessed to speeding in his West Yorkshire constituency, saying he was caught 'bang to rights' doing 56mph in a temporary 50mph zone on the M62 near Morley. He paid a fine and attended a speed awareness course as an alternative to penalty points on his licence.
In a blog post, Balls wrote that he was 'going too far, too fast, you might say', a reference to his own criticism of the government's economic policies. He described the course as 'really worthwhile', noting that casualty rates from speed-related accidents have started to rise after a decade of decline.
The admission came as Chancellor George Osborne faced embarrassment over a photograph showing his car parked in a disabled bay at a motorway service station. Conservative sources said Osborne's driver initially parked in a standard bay and only moved to the disabled spot while the chancellor was inside buying a meal at McDonald's, and that he did not notice the change.
The chief executive of disability charity Scope criticised Osborne's incident, describing it as evidence of a 'toxic attitude' to vulnerable people. Balls, by contrast, was more straightforward about his own misbehaviour, acknowledging the roadworks on the M62 and the importance of road safety.
