Sadiq Khan’s plans for pay-per-mile charges could be thwarted
Sadiq Khan’s plans for pay-per-mile charging for motorists in a future Ulez-style scheme could be left in disarray under a new law to let councils that hit air quality targets opt out.
Mark Harper, the Transport Secretary, has written to Sir Keir Starmer warning that the Government will back an amendment to the Levelling-up and Regeneration Bill that would ensure that councillors could block “a Labour plan to use air pollution to attempt to justify” new car charges.
The move comes as the Labour Mayor of London, declared Tuesday a “landmark day” when the Ultra Low Emission Zone (Ulez) expands across the capital.
Mr Khan continues to insist the expansion will “improve air quality” and prevent 4,000 premature deaths from pollution, despite criticism his claims are based upon “flawed” or “selective” scientific data.
He is understood to have instructed officials to look at ways to introduce pay-per-mile charging in the future.
Earlier this month, Mr Khan described “road-user charging” as “quite exciting”, explaining that it could help improve air quality “if you charge people on how many miles they drive, how polluting their vehicle is, what time of day they’re driving”.
City Hall has insisted there is no prospect of pay-per-mile charges “in the foreseeable future”, despite Richard Holden, the roads minister, claiming he had been told by Mr Khan’s deputy that Transport for London (TfL) bosses had been asked “to investigate the technicalities of introducing road charging across London in the future.”
The amendment to the Levelling-up and Regeneration Bill, originally tabled by Lord Moylan, a Conservative peer, would introduce a new clause that would allow a local authority to “opt out” of TfL “road user charging schemes in London” if the scheme was meant to improve air quality.
An explanatory note to the amendment says the “new clause” enables London borough councils that are meeting air quality standards and objectives under the Environment Act 1995, or have an approved plan to do so, to opt out from certain road user charging schemes proposed by TfL.
The Ulez expansion and rumours Mr Khan is investigating pay-per-mile charging have been branded a “war on motorists”, many of whom are already struggling during the cost of living crisis.
In his letter to the Labour leader, Mr Harper writes: “I do not have power to prevent the Ulez expansion being introduced, you do have the power to stop it.”
Craig Mackinlay, the Tory MP for South Thanet, said Mr Khan was continuing to “double down” on “flawed and contested data on deaths relating to air quality”
“The so-called scientific data is no better than extrapolated statistics that are widely discredited,” he said. “I’d have more respect for his Ulez position, which is merely a new means of extracting a tax with force of civil enforcement from those least able to pay across London and the Home Counties, if he were to be honest enough to say that it’s a tax grab to prop up his failing administration.
“I understand that any future ‘pay per mile’ charging scheme that the mayor may like to introduce will be vetoed and rightly so. Motorists have had enough of being treated as villains and cash machines and I hope that residents of the outer London boroughs in particular will play a key part in his downfall next year.”
A source close to Mr Khan said: “This is breathtaking hypocrisy from the party who imposed clean air zones on cities across the country.
“Sadiq was directly elected by millions of Londoners on a platform to build a greener, fairer and safer London for everyone – including to clean up our city’s air. The Tories don’t respect democracy and are playing cheap political games to distract from their record of catastrophic failure – overseeing 13 years of deteriorating living standards and rising prices.”
