Lee Waters on Breaking Orthodoxy to Achieve Real Change

Lee Waters did something unfashionable in modern politics: he led.

As both 𝗠𝗶𝗻𝗶𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗿 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗧𝗿𝗮𝗻𝘀𝗽𝗼𝗿𝘁 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗠𝗶𝗻𝗶𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗿 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗖𝗹𝗶𝗺𝗮𝘁𝗲 𝗖𝗵𝗮𝗻𝗴𝗲 𝗶𝗻 𝗪𝗮𝗹𝗲𝘀, he curtailed road-building, introduced a national 20mph speed limit and set in motion reforms to create an integrated, publicly owned transport network.

This episode is a masterclass in the reality of political change: why transport is so often overlooked, how to challenge decades of car-first orthodoxy and why evidence-based policy isn’t enough without political courage.