London Mayor Sadiq Khan’s expansion of the capital’s ultra-low emission zone (ULEZ) has come into effect to include the outer boroughs of London.
The move means drivers of older vehicles in the city will face a £12.50 daily charge, which is set to generate an extra £2.5million a day for City Hall, raiding billions of income over the next few years.
The Labour mayor insisted that clean air was a “right not a privilege” as he explained that 4,000 premature deaths a year in London were directly to air pollution.
He said on BBC Breakfast: “We now have a really effective policy to reduce air pollution. It’s shown to be effective in central London and inner London, but I think clean air is a right, not a privilege.
“What about outer London? Why shouldn’t they breathe clean air? Why should they carry on dying prematurely in numbers that could be reversed?”
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The expansion has been criticised in recent months with many calling for it to be delayed. Transport Secretary Mark Harper said he would stop the scheme’s growth if he had the power to do so.
Tory mayoral candidate Susan Hall, who is due to face Mr Khan in next year’s election, said the scheme is “’nothing but a tax grab”.
She explained: “’It will have a devastating impact on those who can least afford it. An overwhelming majority of Londoners, including senior figures in his own party, have told him to stop. It is a shame that Sadiq Khan would rather take millions from the poorest than admit he was wrong.”
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