The mayor of London, Labor Sadiq Khan, 52, has decided that he is on the right side of history, and is going to go ahead with his plans to reduce pollution in the British metropolis despite the reluctance unleashed in his own party and the sticks in the wheels placed by the conservative government of Rishi Sunak. As of this Tuesday, all vehicles that do not comply with Euro4 and Euro6 emission standards (in the case of diesel engines) and circulate in the area known as Greater London, which includes 32 counties and the historic City of London, and brings together more than 12 million inhabitants, they must pay a daily rate of 14.5 euros. In this way, the Ultra Low Emission Zone (ULEZ) is expanded, despite the majority opposition (60%, according to the latest survey) of the new affected areas and the political turmoil that it has created the decision.
The amount is added to the more than 17 euros per day of the so-called Congestion Charge (Congestion Fee), which affects the most central area of the city and, unlike the ULEZ, applicable 24 hours a day throughout the year, It has limited hours and holiday exceptions. The initial purpose of this tax responded more to reduce traffic congestion than to reduce the polluting effect.
The fine for breaking the new rule will be 180 pounds, about 210 euros, reduced by half if paid within 14 days.
The Khan City Council has used all the statistics at its disposal to counter the barrage of criticism that has been increasing as the date of application of the new average arrived. Most of them referred to the high cost that the transition would entail for citizens with fewer resources and who live further away from their places of work. According to the council’s own figures, about 95% of the vehicles that circulate in Greater London already complied with the emission standards claimed by the ULEZ last november. There are about 692,000 cars left, and 851,000 vehicles in total (including vans or small trucks), which are still exceeding the limits. For all of them, the City Council has launched a subsidy mechanism that will mean a total of 230 million euros. Any citizen who is going to buy a new car will receive aid of 2,300 euros, which will be increased to 5,800 for vehicles prepared to transport wheelchairs; another 5,800 for transport vans; 8,100 euros for minibuses and almost 1,200 euros for new motorcycles.
The creation of the ULEZ in its day sought to reduce emissions of nitrogen oxides and particles in the London atmosphere. Municipal data indicates that up to 40,000 people die each year as a result of poor air quality in the British capital.
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Political opposition and in the courts
Last July, the High Court of England and Wales rejected the appeals against the extension of the ULEZ presented by five London counties (Bexley, Bromley, Harrow, Hillingdon and Surrey). Its representatives came to spend more than a million euros on lawyers and legal procedures to combat a measure that Judge Jonathan Swift declared perfectly in line with the law, and whose prior public hearing procedure had duly informed the citizens of the new measures.
However, the threat of the new ULEZ was key to Labor last July losing the seat that former Prime Minister Boris Johnson had left vacant in the Uxbrigde and South Ruislip constituency. The polls gave the main opposition party a victory, but the growing response from residents to the extension sought by Mayor Khan made the conservatives finally retain that seat, with a minimum advantage of just over 500 votes. “We knew that ULEZ was going to be a controversial issue, and we all need to reflect on it, including the mayor,” said Labor leader Keir Starmer, who in recent months has clearly lowered his environmental ambitions so as not to scare off the electorate.
Sunak’s conservative government even considered using its legal prerogatives to block Khan’s plans, but his legal advisers persuaded the prime minister not to engage in such a battle. The central Executive has decided to press the mayor on the economic side, by denying him any help for his subsidy plan for vehicle renewal. Downing Street has granted funds for similar plans to other large cities such as Birmingham, Bristol or Portsmouth.
“The tories [el término con que se conoce a los conservadores británicos] They are using the fight against environmental pollution or against the climate emergency as a political weapon, because they believe that they will be able to obtain some advantage in the short term ”, denounced the London mayor this weekend in the Sunday Times. “But people are not stupid. You will see clearly both the reasonable need to take action and the fact that this government was previously in favor of these policies,” Khan said.
It escapes no one that the first to launch the ULEZ was Boris Johnson, during his time as mayor of London. The former prime minister’s enthusiasm for the fight against climate change is outweighed by the opportunism he displays when criticizing Khan’s policies. Johnson has considered the expansion envisioned by the current mayor unnecessary, costly and counterproductive.
Khan will try to reach, within a year, a third term at the head of the London municipality. He doesn’t have it easy. Only 40% of the citizens support its management, and the rejection is much higher in the areas furthest away from the city center. The battle over the ULEZ extension has managed to create a lot of negative noise against the first Muslim mayor in London’s history. Khan, however, believes that in this city, as everywhere else, he who resists wins. And that the four million more inhabitants that will soon be affected by the new measures will more quickly accept the advantages of cleaner air than the disadvantages of a more restrictive road law.
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