Essex Conservative Group have condemned Labour Mayor Khan’s London Wide ULEZ expansion – a road charge of £12.50 a day for any vehicle driven in London that doesn’t meet the ULEZ standard. This tax will affect hard-working people across the county, including key workers and those on the lowest incomes.
There were a series of impassioned speeches from Conservative Councillors who expressed their deep concerns about the Labour Mayor, Sadiq Khan’s tax without accountability which will adversely affect local residents. The ULEZ will cost thousands of people across Essex hundreds of extra pounds a year when the rising cost of living is already causing considerable pressure on the pockets of working people. As well as impacting businesses and separating family and friends who live across the London boarder.
Although the Conservative group believe in the importance of improving air quality for Essex Residents and is in the process of launching a strategy on how to address this issue, they do not believe the way to improve air quality is through an arbitrary tax.
Furthermore, evidence shows that the ULEZ on its own is not effective in improving air quality, only having a marginal effect. The Mayor’s own Integrated Impact Assessment states “The Proposed Scheme is estimated to have a minor beneficial impact on exposure to air pollution and achieving WHO Interim Targets across Greater London . It also concluded that the Proposed Scheme is estimated to have a negligible beneficial impact on carbon emissions in Greater London.
It has also been suggested that the Labour Mayor could use the £400 million of funding allocated to clear up air pollution on practical and effective solutions, rather than squandering the money on a camera network to support the roll out of ULEZ and penalise motorists.
Essex Conservative’s motion called about the Mayor of London to reverse this decision on the ULEZ. While calling upon the Essex County Council Cabinet Member for Highways and Sustainable Transport to not permit any new ULEZ signage on Essex County Council land or highways, nor allow any existing ULEZ signage on Essex Highways property to be changed.
The Essex Labour Group showed their lack of confidence in their own London Mayor’s money grabbing scheme by abstaining on the vote.
Cllr Kevin Bentley, Leader of Essex County Council and the Conservative Group said,
“Conservative led Essex County Council refuse to give the Labour Mayor of London permission to place ULEZ cameras on Essex residents Highways land. We believe that this is an unfair tax which disproportionately affects those on the lowest incomes who cannot afford ULEZ complaint cars.
We are going further and asking the Labour Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan to reverse the ULEZ expansion to greater London which will affect thousands of outside of London, including in Essex. It is wrong that a tax is being imposed on people where Sadiq Khan has no democratic accountability, especially at a time where people are worried about the cost of living. This policy must be stopped and proactive action to tackle air quality must be taken in a different way which will not rely on hard working people, many of whom are on low incomes footing the bill.”
You can sign a petition against the London Wide ULEZ here: https://www.cityhallconservatives.com/saynotoexpandedulez
