1967 was the year when the 70mph speed limit was set, since then cars, roads and driving moral improved a lot. Today 90% of the cars on the roads been made after 2005, these cars are all equipped with all the safety features to safely travel on higer speed.
You may be interested in these active petitions
Higher speed limit must come with mandatory minimum that should be 60mph!
Belgium, France, Holland, Germany all has a higher speed limit than Uk to improve the traffic flow on their motorways, in my personal opinion this could be a solution for England aswell.
Austria just started to test a new 87mph speed limit on a 30miles section, if that works well they will raise the limit on all of their motorways.