No 10’s Ulez stance reverses ‘decades of clean air progress’, says Sadiq Khan
No 10’s Ulez stance reverses ‘decades of clean air progress’, says Sadiq Khan
Rishi Sunak’s lack of support for expanded scheme risks stunting Londoners’ lungs, says mayor in run-up to Tuesday’s launch
“The government has given financial assistance to Birmingham, Bristol and Portsmouth to help fund their clean air zones but has refused to support London’s scheme, arguing that powers over transport and air quality are devolved to the capital.”
This is the best summary I could come up with:
Rishi Sunak has “put decades of progress on clean air into reverse” and now risks “stunting the lungs” of London’s children by failing to support the expansion of the capital’s ultra-low emissions zone, Sadiq Khan has said.
Ahead of the clean air scheme’s rollout to all boroughs in the capital on Tuesday, the London mayor issued a stark warning to Sunak who he said risked going down in history as the prime minister who “had the chance to save lives but refused to take it”.
Khan, who has accused the government of weaponising air pollution and climate change to win votes, has urged ministers to provide financial support for his policy, and the accompanying scrappage scheme, as it does for some other cities in England.
Nearly 700,000 car drivers in Greater London face paying the £12.50-a-day Ulez charge from Tuesday when it is applied to all roads in the capital for the first time, according to figures obtained by the RAC, despite criticism that the move heaps financial pressure on struggling households.
After opposition to the Ulez expansion was credited by the Tories for their narrow byelection victory in Boris Johnson’s former west London seat of Uxbridge and South Ruislip last month, Sunak delayed and, in some cases, abandoned green policies that impose a direct cost on consumers.
The new London-wide zone also includes Heathrow airport for the first time, meaning drivers of older, more polluting cars making a one-off visit to the capital to fly or collect arriving passengers will also be hit by the scheme.
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Rat Run Rishi doesn't give a shit about kids lungs.
The problem with No. 10 is that there's no one in there old enough to remember walking to school through winter smog. Pollution kills and legislation saves lives: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clean_Air_Act_1956
Standard behaviour across all disciplines sadly; people no longer see the problem that the rules / processes in place were designed to mitigate against, and then they conclude that the rules / processes that are in place must be unnecessary. Never seems to occur to them that the reason the problems have gone away or are getting better is because of the rules / processes, or that to continue to see improvement the rules / processes need to be built upon.
Examples include speed limits, vaccination programmes and, topical these days, well-resourced IT departments.
"It's 'elf and safety gone mad!" is the cry of the idiot who doesn't understand what the world was like before that rule was in place. Yes, you might fancy your chances climbing up a rotten wooden ladder balancing on a bucket, but you should be fucking grateful that years of intense campaigning has made it that your employer needs to give you a proper ladder instead.
Quite.
A lot of people are today realising that the ULEZ does not affect them at all. ULEZ compliance standards are:
Petrol cars must meet Euro 4 emissions standards to be ULEZ compliant. Most, if not all, petrol cars registered since January 2006 meet these standards.
Diesel cars must meet Euro 6 standards to be ULEZ compliant.
Almost every diesel car registered since September 2015 meets these standards, though some earlier models do too (you can find some ULEZ compliant diesel cars going back to 2012).
ULEZ will mostly affect businesses who come from outside of London to work in London. ULEZ charges are tax deductible. Small businesses with diesel vans will have to replace them. There is a scrappage scheme in place, AFAIK extra costs on top of that are also tax deductible.
People who drive diesels around town to save on fuel costs. They can also claim up to £2000 in scrappage. Yes, the replacement will either cost more to run as it will be a less polluting petrol model, or it will be more expensive compliant diesel. IMO anyone driving a diesel car for around town use with a DPF is just asking for trouble.
Any petrol car drivers with cars pre 2006 are actually getting a good price for their knacker of a car.
The Tories are not pushing this for the London boroughs anymore. People within the ULEZ borders will today be seeing exactly where the costs lie. The Tories divisive rants are directed purely at anyone not in a ULEZ area. Because if you are not in these areas then you are unlikely to realise just how few people are affected.