Looks like they built an emergency stop place so probably. It's taking ages, been like this for tonks.

Is that the sections being converted to All Lane Running?

That's the only part that's been a fixed lower limit whilst I've been up and down over the last few months so I assume so...not that it slows you down that much overall.

If I remember rightly the all lanr running on motorways started on the M42 under a Labour Government

The M42 became a controlled motorway on 29 November 2005. This means that mandatory variable speed limits came into use. The system now includes using the hard shoulder as a running lane between junctions under controlled conditions.

www.roadtraffic-technology.com/projects/m42/

I live near it and avoid it.

Nothing to do with Tory Policies.

In what way? The government decide on what rules and laws there are on the roads...and they are the governement.