Labour has doubled down on its promise of a new “clean air act” despite Sir Keir Starmer preparing to denounce low emission zones in cities outside of London.
Talks are ongoing within the party around plans for the Labour leader to publicly oppose introducing similar schemes in more cities across the UK, i understands.
Sir Keir is said to be concerned about opening up the party to Tory attacks for supporting measures that could cost voters during a time when finances are being squeezed.
Party sources said, however, that the leader was not going back on his pledge to introduce new laws mandating cleaner air, telling i there are more ways to improve air qualities in cities than simply charging private vehicles.
They did not specify what these measures might be.
Sir Keir has promised several times to introduce a new Clean Air Act to tackle pollution if elected to government.
The Financial Times first reported that Sir Keir is planning to publicly oppose the creation of any new low emission areas outside of London in order to take the punch out of any Tory attacks on Labour’s climate policy.
The newspaper quoted a source close to Sir Keir saying: “We want to make a clear statement so that it can’t be something got up as a scare story by the Tories. You want to make the target for your opponent as small as possible – that’s what we are doing.”
It comes after the party was spooked by a by-election loss in Uxbridge where the Conservatives attacked the party for its support of the expansion of traffic restrictions to outer London.
Following the result, Sir Keir told his part that it was fundamentally getting something wrong if “policies put forward by the Labour Party end up on every Tory leaflet”.
The Labour leader spoke with London Mayor Sadiq Khan – who is behind the rollout of the Ulez expansion – about how to relieve costs for those having to switch cars.
Mr Khan later announced he was dipping into Transport for London’s budget to expand the offer of £2,000 scrappage grants to all Londoners who do not have a compliant car.
The Government has legally mandated environmental targets, which include improving air quality.
And there are already clean air zones in place in cities around the UK outside of London, including Birmingham, Bristol, Glasgow and Newcastle.
In Manchester, Labour Mayor Andy Burnham had proposed a similar scheme but was forced to pause the rollout in February due to backlash and battles with central Government around how the scheme should operate.
Mayor of West Yorkshire Tracy Brabin said last week there were currently no plans to introduce a Ulez-type scheme in her jurisdiction, including Leeds, pointing out that air quality is the legal responsibility of district councils.
“They did not specify what measures those might be”
Of course they didn’t cos it’s fairy tale nonsense. You can’t have clean air without removing the most polluting cars from high density environments. You can’t get the most polluting cars off the road just by asking nicely.
He really is going to be the most disappointing Labour PM ever (unless you’re a Tory).
This is annoying from a labour member. It’s literally a false promise that will come back later when abandoned.
You CANNOT enforce any kind of clean air act without a monetary penalty. You either have to have fines and a system of deterring cars from entering or a policy to remove the most polluting cars. The alternative is you just ask people not to do it and hope everyone is considerate and helpful.
If you support CAZ then there’s going to be some bite and pain to start with. Yes you can help where possible, but the idea it’s no pain at all to motorists is just silliness.
The number one source of pollution in our cities are private cars, then lorries, buses, and other diesel-burning vehicles. This is despite car engines become cleaner and more efficient over the last 20 years.
You cannot tackle this problem without tackling car use in cities. And even then, simply making alternatives better is not enough. London has the best public transport network of any city in the UK and half of households don’t own cars, and it STILL has air pollution problems.
Charging for driving polluting cars in urban areas is part of the solution. It has had a demonstrable impact on air quality in the areas it has been implemented in London.
To say its not part of the solution is both rubbish and political posturing. If you are serious about this, you would do something about it.
Until private planes, private helicopters are reduced and heavily taxed these initiatives will also divide people as its always seen as picking on average Joe motorist.
It affects the both working class and middle classes.
A magical clean air act that doesn’t dis-incentivise car use or driving a fuel inefficient car
We already pay a tax based on car emissions, I have 2 cars and one costs just over £600 a year and other £325, I should not have to pay again it is disgusting.
Keir Starmer needs to actually grow some balls and tell his Labour Mayor of London Sadiq Khan to stop ULEZ.
Sadiq Khan has been told by consultation the people don’t want it, he’s been told by the result of a bi-election in Uxbridge the people don’t want it, every single place he goes unless he can control the audience he is told the people don’t want it. Yet he keeps saying I’m listening to Londoners. Yeah right.
The only place it goes bad is on public transport, The Underground. Newer combustion engines are the cleanest at the tail pipe they have ever been, we have some electric cars on the road and older cars will naturally die off any way so its a complete non issue thats is being driven by money not health.
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Labour has doubled down on its promise of a new “clean air act” despite Sir Keir Starmer preparing to denounce low emission zones in cities outside of London.
Talks are ongoing within the party around plans for the Labour leader to publicly oppose introducing similar schemes in more cities across the UK, i understands.
Sir Keir is said to be concerned about opening up the party to Tory attacks for supporting measures that could cost voters during a time when finances are being squeezed.
Party sources said, however, that the leader was not going back on his pledge to introduce new laws mandating cleaner air, telling i there are more ways to improve air qualities in cities than simply charging private vehicles.
They did not specify what these measures might be.
Sir Keir has promised several times to introduce a new Clean Air Act to tackle pollution if elected to government.
The Financial Times first reported that Sir Keir is planning to publicly oppose the creation of any new low emission areas outside of London in order to take the punch out of any Tory attacks on Labour’s climate policy.
The newspaper quoted a source close to Sir Keir saying: “We want to make a clear statement so that it can’t be something got up as a scare story by the Tories. You want to make the target for your opponent as small as possible – that’s what we are doing.”
It comes after the party was spooked by a by-election loss in Uxbridge where the Conservatives attacked the party for its support of the expansion of traffic restrictions to outer London.
Following the result, Sir Keir told his part that it was fundamentally getting something wrong if “policies put forward by the Labour Party end up on every Tory leaflet”.
The Labour leader spoke with London Mayor Sadiq Khan – who is behind the rollout of the Ulez expansion – about how to relieve costs for those having to switch cars.
Mr Khan later announced he was dipping into Transport for London’s budget to expand the offer of £2,000 scrappage grants to all Londoners who do not have a compliant car.
The Government has legally mandated environmental targets, which include improving air quality.
And there are already clean air zones in place in cities around the UK outside of London, including Birmingham, Bristol, Glasgow and Newcastle.
In Manchester, Labour Mayor Andy Burnham had proposed a similar scheme but was forced to pause the rollout in February due to backlash and battles with central Government around how the scheme should operate.
Mayor of West Yorkshire Tracy Brabin said last week there were currently no plans to introduce a Ulez-type scheme in her jurisdiction, including Leeds, pointing out that air quality is the legal responsibility of district councils.
“They did not specify what measures those might be”
Of course they didn’t cos it’s fairy tale nonsense. You can’t have clean air without removing the most polluting cars from high density environments. You can’t get the most polluting cars off the road just by asking nicely.
He really is going to be the most disappointing Labour PM ever (unless you’re a Tory).
This is annoying from a labour member. It’s literally a false promise that will come back later when abandoned.
You CANNOT enforce any kind of clean air act without a monetary penalty. You either have to have fines and a system of deterring cars from entering or a policy to remove the most polluting cars. The alternative is you just ask people not to do it and hope everyone is considerate and helpful.
If you support CAZ then there’s going to be some bite and pain to start with. Yes you can help where possible, but the idea it’s no pain at all to motorists is just silliness.
The number one source of pollution in our cities are private cars, then lorries, buses, and other diesel-burning vehicles. This is despite car engines become cleaner and more efficient over the last 20 years.
You cannot tackle this problem without tackling car use in cities. And even then, simply making alternatives better is not enough. London has the best public transport network of any city in the UK and half of households don’t own cars, and it STILL has air pollution problems.
Charging for driving polluting cars in urban areas is part of the solution. It has had a demonstrable impact on air quality in the areas it has been implemented in London.
To say its not part of the solution is both rubbish and political posturing. If you are serious about this, you would do something about it.
Until private planes, private helicopters are reduced and heavily taxed these initiatives will also divide people as its always seen as picking on average Joe motorist.
It affects the both working class and middle classes.
A magical clean air act that doesn’t dis-incentivise car use or driving a fuel inefficient car
We already pay a tax based on car emissions, I have 2 cars and one costs just over £600 a year and other £325, I should not have to pay again it is disgusting.
Keir Starmer needs to actually grow some balls and tell his Labour Mayor of London Sadiq Khan to stop ULEZ.
Sadiq Khan has been told by consultation the people don’t want it, he’s been told by the result of a bi-election in Uxbridge the people don’t want it, every single place he goes unless he can control the audience he is told the people don’t want it. Yet he keeps saying I’m listening to Londoners. Yeah right.
Then we add on the fact London does not even have an Air Quality problem, saying it does is a lie, BrownCarGuy took an Air Quality monitor on to the streets of central London and it is all green, see here [https://www.newsflare.com/video/578157/famous-youtuber-brown-car-guy-speaks-about-an-airquality-monitor-he-used-to-test-air-pollution-in-the-tfl-underground](https://www.newsflare.com/video/578157/famous-youtuber-brown-car-guy-speaks-about-an-airquality-monitor-he-used-to-test-air-pollution-in-the-tfl-underground)
The only place it goes bad is on public transport, The Underground. Newer combustion engines are the cleanest at the tail pipe they have ever been, we have some electric cars on the road and older cars will naturally die off any way so its a complete non issue thats is being driven by money not health.