Keir Starmer abandons plans for UK-wide ULEZ zones following Uxbridge defeat

Sir Keir Starmer has pulled a screeching u-turn on plans to broaden ULEZ-style low emission zones throughout the nation, after his occasion’s surprising defeat within the Uxbridge and South Ruislip by-election final month.

In May, a draft of Labour’s coverage handbook – a provisional blueprint of what was prone to form Sir Keir’s 2024 election manifesto – was leaked, revealing plans to help and broaden clear air zones.

The handbook declared: “Labour supports the principle of clean air zones and recognises the huge damage to human health caused by air pollution and the damage to our climate caused by carbon emissions from polluting vehicles.

“However, they must be phased in carefully, mindful of the impacts on small businesses and low-paid workers, and should be accompanied with a just transition plan to enable people to switch affordably to low-emission vehicles.”

It’s now been revealed such proposals have been junked fully, after Sir Keir stated: “We are doing something very wrong if policies put forward by the Labour Party end up on each and every Tory leaflet.”

With the Tories hoping to make Labour’s anti-motorist insurance policies a key election battle subsequent yr, the handbook proposals to broaden clear air zones had been “scored out” at Labour’s current National Policy Forum.

A Labour supply instructed the Telegraph that the coverage has been formally dropped and won’t characteristic within the revised proposals which can feed into the occasion’s manifesto.

At the discussion board, Labour’s defeated Uxbridge candidate Danny Beales stated ULEZ had “cut us off at the knees”.

The Tories efficiently turned the by-election right into a ULEZ referendum, beating Labour towards all odds by 495 votes.

Labour now seems utterly divided over the coverage, with Sadiq Khan in addition to Labour-run cities like Newcastle, Bristol and Birmingham supporting clear air zones.

York MP Rachel Maskell instructed the paper: “I think Sadiq Khan called it right when he said we wouldn’t accept dirty water, so why accept dirty air?

“I would say it’s absolutely essential that we make those interventions that make a difference.”

The Tories’ candidate for Mayor of London, Susan Hall, mocked the thought Labour had given up on ULEZ zones simply because their growth received’t seem within the occasion’s 2024 manifesto.

She stated: “Everyone knows Labour won’t stop with Sadiq Khan’s Ulez expansion, no matter what they say.”

“Angela Rayner has admitted that she wants to see Ulez schemes all over the country. Sadiq Khan’s tax will punish poorer families who rely on their cars, and Keir Starmer was too weak to tell him to stop.

“That is why we must stop them both at the ballot box in 2024.”

Ms Hall has vowed to abolish Sadiq Khan’s ULEZ growth on day one ought to she win the keys to City Hall in subsequent yr’s mayoral election.