TRANSPORT ministers have been accused of a "major retreat" over plans to reduce speed limits on country roads.

Proposals launched last month could see 20mph speed limits for residential roads and a lowering of the 60mph limit to 50mph on single-carriage rural roads.

Transport minister Jim Fitzpatrick insisted the Government was not proposing blanket speed restrictions, but would offer guidance to local authorities that they could reduce the limit on dangerous roads.

He said proposals in the consultation aimed to reduce the death toll on the UK's roads by a third by 2020.

"We made a range of proposals; there are two carefully targeted to reduce speed," Mr Fitzpatrick said. "One: that local authorities reduce limits to 20mph on roads of a primarily residential nature, and around schools.

"And two: that highway authorities reduce limits on the most dangerous rural single carriageways from 60mph where the evidence supports it."

Shadow Transport Secretary Theresa Villiers said a petition on the Downing Street website made clear it was one of the Government's most unpopular policies – behind only a call for Gordon Brown to quit.

She added: "Labour's speed limit policy is the most unpopular thing in the country, apart from the Prime Minister, though admittedly he is ahead by a 30,000 comfortable margin."

Everything said by Mr Fitzpatrick "signalled a major retreat on the briefing on these issues given to journalists in March", she suggested, adding: "Why don't you go the whole way and drop the proposals on the table from the Government?"

But Mr Fitzpatrick hit back: "With the greatest of respect to journalists, there was no briefing to say we were reducing across the country the speed limit on single- carriageway roads from 60 to 50. We need to make sure that we assess the most dangerous roads and they have an appropriate speed limit."

Some 62 per cent of fatalities occurred on just 40 per cent of roads and data collected on an annual basis would help identify problem routes. "There is no retreat, it never has been a blanket ban, we are targeting where the 50mph limit ought to be introduced and we will be introducing guidance to local authorities, not an instruction and not a blanket reduction," Mr Fitzpatrick said.

Ms Villiers said reducing the default limit on roads would hit all motorists with a "collective punishment" for the actions of the "irresponsible few".

She accused the Government of failing to deal with "problem drivers", adding: "Why, after a decade in charge of our roads are they still using a test for drug drivers which is no more sophisticated than asking them to walk in a straight line? Why is the average fine for uninsured rogue drivers less than £200?" Reducing limits would not get those drivers off the road, she said.