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Sadiq Khan, London’s Labour mayor, has added a further £50mn to a car scrappage scheme in the UK capital after a public backlash against his plan to force older, heavier-polluting cars off the road.
Controversy around Khan’s “ultra low emission zone” was viewed as the decisive factor in last month’s Uxbridge and South Ruislip parliamentary by-election, which gave the Conservatives a surprise victory over the Labour candidate.
In the wake of the result, Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer urged Khan to “reflect” on his policy, amid fears that the opposition party could be hit by similar protests by voters in other London seats at the general election expected next year.
Two weeks later, Khan has decided to massively expand his car scrappage scheme, offering £2,000 to every Londoner with a car that does not comply with the Ulez rules.
The grant was previously available only to people on low incomes or in receipt of child benefit, but it will now be offered to everyone on a first-come-first-served basis.
Starmer’s allies welcomed the move and Khan said: “We need to take people with us on the path to a sustainable future. We are ensuring that help is now available for everyone — I urge Londoners to come and get it.”
The mayor will raid City Hall’s reserves to find the extra £50mn, taking the cost to £160mn. He said it would be the most generous such scheme seen in the UK.
The Labour’s mayor’s Ulez plan was derided by Rishi Sunak, the prime minister, who claimed it would hit many Londoners with a £12.50 daily charge every time they used their car to the get to the shops or visit a local hospital.
“It just shows that they are out of touch with the concerns of hard-working people,” Sunak said last month. The prime minister later went on to claim that he would put himself firmly “on the side” of motorists.
While Labour stormed to a big victory over the Tories in the Selby and Ainsty by-election on July 20, the Uxbridge contest on the same day came as a sobering warning to Starmer.
Khan’s new concession to motorists may help to calm concerns among voters in London about Labour’s supposedly “anti-car” agenda, but Sunak hopes to develop the theme across the country.
The package means every Londoner with a car that is not compliant with Ulez standards can receive a £2,000 scrappage grant; small businesses and charities with a non-compliant van can receive £7,000, up from £5,000.
However the mayor said he would not axe the low emission zone extension, which takes effect across the capital on August 29. “I’m not prepared to step back, delay or water down vital green policies like Ulez,” he said.
The scheme, which was introduced in inner London in 2019, has helped to reduce levels of harmful nitrogen dioxide by 46 per cent in central London and by more than 20 per cent in inner London.
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