Keir Starmer has finally admitted he is in “ongoing discussions” with London Mayor Sadiq Khan about “alternatives” to the ULEZ expansion. Possibly because it lost him the Uxbridge by-election?
The Labour leader was quizzed on BBC Radio London over the vote-killing plan, saying:
“I do want to look at other options. I do understand this is expensive. It imposes cost on people in a cost of living crisis. So we do need to look at how it is implemented…We have an obligation to look at what other options are out there and how we can help further. That’s an ongoing discussion between me and the Mayor. We speak regularly.”
They need to sit down together and clear the air…
Sadiq Khan is currently running a paid advertising campaign on TikTok to promote the supposed benefits of his ULEZ expansion. The video, published last night, encourages viewers to play along with Sadiq’s “Big Green London Quiz“, with a series of leading “true or false” questions which peddle Khan’s usual ULEZ talking points:
“True or false? Everywhere in London exceeds the World Health Organization’s limits for toxic air pollution?”
According to Sadiq’s quiz, that’s true. In Guido’s tests, that was actually only true on the London Underground. No mention of that in this quiz for some reason…
The irony here is City Hall has, like Parliament, already banned TikTok on all its devices, citing security concerns from the Chinese government. That’s not an issue for Sadiq, apparently. So long as 15-year-olds who don’t even own cars anyway are playing along with his strange quizzes, the security issues are secondary. Rest assured, Guido has sent in a Freedom of Information request on the cost of the campaign…
Camden’s Labour-run council has proposed an additional ULEZ of its own which would introduce a new 75g/km C02 band and hike charges for diesel and petrol vehicles. The council also proposes to limit families and businesses to one car per permit, down from the original three. Camden is one of London’s poorer boroughs, with 34% of residents living in households with an income of below 60% of the UK median. They must be glad the council has their interests in mind…
Under new plans the cost of a business permit will be quadrupled and traders using a diesel car emitting average levels of carbon dioxide will be charged an extra £622 annually. Even short-term parking will be subject to graduated C02 charges. Meanwhile, doctors on call using the same car will be charged an additional £448 per year for providing medium-emission life-saving care. The party of the many strikes again…
UPDATE: A government source tells Guido:
“Sir Keir’s own council is waging war on motorists. He may try to distance himself from Sadiq Khan’s ULEZ but his council is introducing their own version and limiting each house to just one car.”
Tories on the council are preparing for a fight on this…
Khan’s ULEZ expansion is getting off to an even worse start than expected, as one of the remaining ULEZ cameras not vandalised by angry punters malfunctioned and accidentally charged 927 drivers for…not entering the ULEZ zone. The wrath of Khan…
A TfL spokesperson has apologised for the “error” and the unwitting drivers have since been refunded. The camera in Harrow has now been deactivated and there are concerns that there may be other cameras along the ULEZ border snapping innocent victims. Guido recommends the rest of the cameras are switched off for caution’s sake…
Khan’s got a new line on ULEZ which is sure to buoy the spirits of outer London builders and carers. After jetting into New York for a shoulder-rubbing climate conference, he said at a business conference today that ULEZ was “the classic best ever two-for-one offer you will ever receive.” Khan, helpful as ever, explained at the Concordia business summit:
“The same things that cause climate change, cause air pollution… Nitrogen dioxide, nitrogen oxides, particulate matter and carbon emissions. If you deal with one, you deal with the other.”
It’s a shame that the official independent assessment by Jacobs concluded the scheme would result in a -1% average exposure to nitrogen oxide and “negligible reductions (-0.1%) in average exposure to PM2.5“. Speaking of particulate matter, any chance of dealing with the toxic air on the Tube?
The good news is Khan is giving a speech at the UN’s Climate Ambition Summit tomorrow. He’s the only UK politician invited, which he will be pleased to know. There’s plenty to talk about: according to Atmosfair, jetting from London to New York and back pumps out roughly 986kg of CO2 per passenger. In total, his team will rack up a whopping 41,412 air miles. That’s a lot of hot air…
Sadiq Khan is being investigated for a possible breach of the City Hall code of conduct relating to comments prior to the ULEZ expansion. Tory member of the London Assembly Nick Rogers accused Kahn of “knowingly [making] false and dishonest statements” about his knowledge of results from a TfL consultation that showed two-thirds of respondents were opposed to the expansion. Is the TfL team literally making up support for the ULEZ expansion now?
Khan is also being investigated for his response to hecklers at a People’s Question Time meeting in Ealing, where he said “What I find unacceptable is some of those who’ve got legitimate objections [about ULEZ] joining hands with some of those outside, who are part of a far-Right group.” This quickly prompted members of the audience to shout back “normal people are not right wing”.
The Greater London Authority’s monitoring officer, Rory McKenna, appointed an independent investigator to look into the complaints. Khan he get out of this one?
