JUSTICE Secretary Liz Truss has praised a Telegraph & Argus campaign calling for the scourge of dangerous driving to be tackled.

Ms Truss, who visited a Bradford street plagued by speeding drivers yesterday, said she thought our Stop the Danger Drivers campaign was “really important” and backed our calls for tougher sentences for reckless and irresponsible motorists.

She said: “I think it is a really important campaign. The Government has been running a consultation on upping the penalties for dangerous driving because we think it’s a really serious problem.”

Ms Truss, who is also responsible for the courts system in her role as Lord Chancellor, spoke out during a visit to Wibsey with Conservative candidate Tanya Graham.

The pair visited roads such as Netherlands Avenue, where Ms Graham said they witnessed many drivers travelling well above the 20mph limit.

Ms Graham said she had also seen many other instances of dangerous driving while out canvassing for the election.

She said: “The driving we have seen has been fearful, people doing 50 or 60mph in 30mph areas.”

Ms Graham said many people on the doorstep were worried about both the hazards posed by such drivers and the impact this had on local car insurance premiums.

She added: “The campaign you have been running has given a really strong voice to residents in the area. The number of drivers stopped through [resulting police operation Steerside] has been in the thousands. I think that is fantastic but it also reveals the extent of the issue.”

But pressed on the Conservatives’ record of cutting police numbers in West Yorkshire, Ms Graham said dangerous drivers had to be tackled through a “multi-faceted approach”, including education and greater deterrents through the courts, not just through police numbers.

However, Labour’s incumbent candidate, Judith Cummins, took a different view.

Mrs Cummins said: “I have been very vocal on the scourge of dangerous drivers, backing the T&A campaign, lobbying the government and raising the issue repeatedly in Parliament.

“The biggest obstacle to tackling this is Tory cuts to our police.

“They have cut hundreds of frontline officers from Bradford and cut the police’s budget by a third since 2012. All on Theresa May’s watch.

“Bradford South has a strong voice, a hardworking and genuinely local MP.

“We don’t need a Tory MP from the Yorkshire Dales helping Theresa May cut our police and limiting their ability to keep us safe.”