I’d give outer London vote on Ulez, mayor hopeful says
Tory would-be candidate will hand decision to those hit by the scheme’s coming expansion
OUTER London boroughs will be given an “in/out” referendum on whether to stay in Sadiq Khan’s Ultra-low emission zone (Ulez) under plans drawn up by a Tory mayoral hopeful.
Samuel Kasumu said that he would grant boroughs affected by the coming expansion of Ulez a vote on whether to remain in the zone or leave it if he is elected mayor next year.
Mr Kasumu, a former adviser to Boris Johnson in Downing Street, is seeking the Tory nomination to take on Mr Khan in the May 2024 mayoral election.
Speaking to The Sunday Telegraph, he said that Ulez would be “a key battleground” in the race to be mayor.
In August, Mr Khan is set to expand the Ulez zone to cover all 32 boroughs in London, with vehicles that fail to meet emissions standards being forced to pay £12.50 every day to travel. The project is hugely controversial, with many outer London residents complaining that they lack the public transport links to which inner London has access.
Mr Kasumu, 36, a councillor for Welwyn Hatfield borough council and its cabinet member for climate change and the environment, said he was “as passionate” about green issues as Mr Khan.
But explaining his opposition to the Ulez expansion, he said: “You’ve got to do things in a responsible manner and you have to be able to take people with you. You can’t just impose your will on folks who don’t want it.”
However, with the expansion due to be completed eight months before the mayoral vote, opponents of the scheme are faced with a quandary about how to respond. Mr Kasumu said: “Our challenge as Conservatives is going to have to be around how we can responsibly reverse any damage that is already done by the time we get into office.” According to Mr Kasumu, a “blanket reversal” of the extension could trigger legal challenges, adding further costs to the scheme. Instead, he plans to give a “democratic mandate” to each outer London borough by granting them a plebiscite on whether to stick with Ulez or ditch it. “I will promise within the first 12 months to have a local referendum for every outer London borough so they can be empowered with the choice about how they respond to what Sadiq has done,” he said.
Mr Kasumu said he would explore “digital options” for the referendums, which would “help to reduce some of the costs”, although alternatives would be made available for the digitally excluded. Under the plans, councils would be able to apply to the Greater London Authority for grants to promote the referendums.
He said he would limit the vote to the boroughs affected by the expanded zone because it would be a “challenge” to “unravel the Ulez within inner city London” and “it doesn’t seem to be
‘You’ve got to do things in a responsible manner and you have to be able to take people with you’
something where there is significant demand from inner-city London boroughs anyway”.
Extolling his policy, he said it would be “very simple” and “a bit like Brexit” – “in or out, and we will respect whatever choice they make”. But he added that with the exception of “one or two” boroughs in south-west London which might opt to stay in the scheme, he expected the “vast majority will vote to reverse it”.
The policy commitment is likely to mark the start of a bidding war in which Tory candidates will compete for the support of the grassroots with anti-Ulez pledges. So far, only two candidates have put themselves forward for the party’s mayoral nomination, with Andrew Boff, a member of the London Assembly, also declaring.
More candidates are expected to break cover this spring.