Khan’s “cash grab” will hit hard-working Londoners

Tory Mayoral candidate Susan Hall has blasted the “devastating impact” Sadiq Khan’s Ulez policy will have on “hard-working Londoners” after the High Court ruled the expansion of the Ultra Low Emission Zone lawful. 

Five Conservative-led councils – Bexley, Bromley, Harrow, Hillingdon and Surrey County – brought the case against the Mayor of London but were overruled. Judge Justice Swift said: “While the consultation conducted was not in-depth, it was lawful.”

Hall, who promises to scrap Ulez expansion on her first day in power if she becomes Mayor, was adamant that Londoners had said “loud and clear to Sadiq Khan don’t do it.” 

When asked whether it was a trade-off between shielding people from the cost of living crisis or improving people’s health, Hall said that the Ulez expansion would fail its aims as even “its own impact assessment itself said it would not make any difference.”

She continued: “This is nothing but a cash-grab; it’s £200 million a year they reckon they’ll make off the back of this.”

Despite angry protesters outside the court, Khan defended his policy: “This landmark decision is good news as it means we can proceed with cleaning up the air in outer London.”

The Mayor insisted that the decision to expand the Ulez area was “not something I took lightly” and pointed to the benefits of the scheme: “The Ulez has already reduced toxic nitrogen dioxide air pollution by nearly half in central London and a fifth in inner London.”

The High Court’s verdict comes after Labour’s recent defeat in the Uxbridge by-election which was widely blamed on the party’s support of Khan’s policy. In the aftermath, both Labour leader Keir Starmer and deputy leader Angela Rayner have come out criticising Ulez for being punitive. This has opened up a rift between the leader of the Opposition and the Mayor as Starmer has urged Khan to think about the “impact it’s [Ulez] having on people”.

How to approach environmental policy is causing huge ruptures on the Left. In a recent interview in the New Statesman with Andrew Marr, former Prime Minister Tony Blair said that, although climate change was “the single biggest global challenge” and that “Britain should play its part”, it should not be expected to do “a huge amount”. Given that China emits roughly 32 times more CO2 per year than Britain, Blair said that Britain should focus on how it can help “finance the transition” to clean energy sources rather than concentrating on limiting its emissions. 

But Ulez is a local issue, not a national issue and the Labour leadership knows it cost them the recent by-election. As Steve Tuckwell, the new Tory MP who took over from the local MP – former PM Boris Johnson – said on the back of campaigning against Ulez, said: “Uxbridge and South Ruislip sent mayor Sadiq Khan a clear message last week – halt your Ulez expansion.

“Londoners cannot go on being ignored by the Labour Party, who are making the choice to expand Ulez, saddling families and businesses with a £4,500 a year charge – a tax on carers, parents, patients, sole traders and all hard-working Londoners.”

Although Susan Hall and many Conservatives deny Ulez’s efficacy and say it costs people too much money, a report published by the Mayor’s office in February showed that nitrogen dioxide (NO2) was down 46 per cent in Central London (the City, Westminster, and inner Camden) and down 21 per cent in inner London (which includes other boroughs like Islington, Hackney, Southwark etc). Moreover, the data also showed that there were 74,000 – 60 per cent – fewer polluting cars in the Ulez zone every day since the October 2021 expansion. Since 2019, nitrogen oxides (NOx) emissions are down 23 per cent (13,500 tonnes) across London. 

Despite the positive statistics, the charges to non-compliant cars have led to accusations that Ulez is a money-making scheme. However, low emission charges accounted for only 3.4 per cent of Transport for London’s income in the financial year 2020-2021, and 6 per cent in 2021-2022. Admittedly, this percentage is likely to increase with the expansion. 

Ulez’s defendants also cite City Hall figures claiming that 90 per cent of cars in the Greater London area comply with Ulez requirements and so won’t face charges.  Despite criticism from the watchdog, the UK Statistics Authority confirmed these numbers. 

Today’s decision means the expansion is going ahead next month but the debate is not over. With the London Mayoral elections next year, the controversy over Ulez will only get hotter.

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