Don’t ‘clobber’ Londoners with ULEZ, Rachel Reeves says July 27, 2023 Now is not the right time to “clobber” Londoners with the ULEZ charge, Labour shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves has said. The shadow chancellor has weighed in on the ultra low emission zone (ULEZ) expansion row engulfing City Hall and Labour politics in the wake of the Uxbridge by-election defeat. She told the Sun she was [...]
Loss of tax-free shopping costing the UK £4.1bn, say London bosses July 26, 2023 Scrapping the tourist tax could generate £4.1bn annually for the UK economy, new research suggests, as a cluster of prominent business owners call for the government to reinstate VAT shopping for international tourists. Rishi Sunak scrapped the tax which saw international shoppers able to claim 20 per cent back with their purchases. It was largely [...]
Welcome to the Great Green Delay, and Khan’s Ulez expansion is the first victim July 26, 2023 As Sadiq Khan’s expansion of the Ultra Low Emission zone became a flashpoint for the Uxbridge by-election, other green policies face being quietly shelved, writes Comment & Features editor Sascha O’Sullivan.
Tory MPs pile pressure on Sunak to retain green policies July 25, 2023 Senior Tory MPs have warned Rishi Sunak against backing away from policies aimed at tackling climate change. Labour’s loss in the recent Uxbridge and South Ruislip by-election has been interpreted by some as a de-facto referendum on the controversial ULEZ expansion. Danny Beales, who lost to the Conservative candidate Steve Tuckwell by just 495 votes, [...]
Date for petrol car ban ‘immovable,’ says Michael Gove July 25, 2023 The 2030 ban on new petrol and diesel car sales is an immovable deadline, Cabinet minister Michael Gove has insisted after Rishi Sunak cast doubt on the policy. The Housing Secretary warned costly plans to tackle the climate crisis could create a “backlash” as ministers come under pressure from the Tory right to relax existing pledges. Amid [...]
Gove planning shake-up: ‘We need housing today, not tomorrow’ July 24, 2023 Michael Gove will loosen planning laws to allow vacant shops to be converted into homes as part of his latest efforts to tackle the UK’s housing crisis. On Monday the minister for housing and levelling up revealed a slew of planning reforms as well as a further commitment to building over 1m new homes across [...]
Addison Lee boss: Khan doesn’t want to solve congestion for London drivers July 24, 2023 Sadiq Khan doesn’t want to solve congestion problems for London’s car users, the boss of private hire taxi firm Addison Lee has said. “I just think that definitely the congestion in London should be something we want to solve,” Liam Griffin told City A.M. but “I’m not sure Khan wants to solve it for cars.” [...]
More London rail disruption on horizon as ASLEF to stage fresh overtime ban July 24, 2023 Train drivers will stage a fresh overtime ban in August, the ASLEF Union has announced, continuing a long running dispute and causing disruption for many London hubs. ASLEF workers will refuse to work overtime from Monday 7 to Saturday 12 August, in action that the union said will “seriously disrupt services,” as “none of the [...]
Starmer’s ULEZ meddling shows Labour still has a lot to learn July 24, 2023 Only the Labour Party could turn a night in which they overturned a 20,000 majority Tory seat in Yorkshire into an almighty row over a tax on fewer than 10 per cent of outer London’s cars. The Conservatives’ narrow victory in Uxbridge, which had at least something (but by no means all) to do with [...]
The next Mayor of London needs to stand up for financial services as well as housing July 24, 2023 Whoever wins the race to become Mayor of London should remind the government that levelling up cannot mean levelling down London, writes Chris Hayward