THE Labour candidate for Uxbridge and South Ruislip, Danny Beales, has caused a stir by going against London mayor Sadiq Khan’s Ulez expansion plan.
The Ulez zone expansion is due to go ahead in August and will see the most polluting vehicles have to pay a £12.50-aday toll.
But a High Court challenge against the scheme by five Conservative-run councils took place last week with a final judgement expected by July 31. Beales said he could not support the Ulez until the mayor and the Conservative government go “much further” with support for families and City Hall’s £110 million scrappage scheme.
Protesters at a rally against the expansion of the Ulez zone in London
Low-income Londoners are being offered a package worth as much as £3,000 to scrap their old polluting cars.
However, there is only £110m up for grabs and it will be doled out on a first-come, first-served basis, with car drivers having to vie with van, motorbike and minibus owners for the money.
“I think people expect me to stand up for my community. That’s my job, whether it’s the council, City Hall, or Whitehall; my job is to represent people here and push for better for them,” said Beales.
“We all want clean air, but it has to be done in a fair way that doesn’t punish working people. We need a better scrappage scheme. The government have funded scrappage schemes in other cities. They gave millions of pounds to Birmingham for their scrappage scheme, so I don’t understand why they’re not in London.”
Beales added: “When you hear the stories on the doorstep, we hear people who really don’t face much choice about the matter.
“When you speak to families, I hear heart-wrenching stories at the moment: carers who have to travel to work and can’t afford to pay for their car and may have to give up their job or they can’t afford to scrap their car with the scrappage scheme available’’.
Bob Blackman MP speaks during the event