London Mayor Sadiq Khan and Labour have dismissed claims they are secretly planning a pay-per-mile scheme for drivers in the capital – and that they want a car-less society – as “complete nonsense” and “completely untrue”.
However, Transport Secretary Mark Harper is said to have warned Sir Keir Starmer that the Government will legislate to block Labour from bringing in road charging. And a national newspaper claims it has seen plans to charge drivers by the mile – and that London’s Ultra Low Emission Zone ULEZ is just the start of Labour’s “vision” for a car-less society.
It quotes a “Government source” that says Labour intends to “drive cars off the road” – and another that says plans to charge drivers based on the length of the trip taken are “an open secret in City Hall”.
City Hall, however, insists there is no prospect of pay-per-mile charges “in the foreseeable future”. The denial came after Richard Holden, the roads minister, claimed he had been told by Khan’s deputy that Transport for London (TfL) chiefs had been asked “to investigate the technicalities of introducing road charging across London in the future.”
The latest report comes just days before ULEZ is expanded to cover even the whole of London. Khan claims the August 29 expansion will bring “cleaner, healthier air to 5 million more Londoners”.
However, Khan’s office reportedly tried to “silence” scientists who found that his ULEZ policy had little impact on pollution. The study by Imperial College’s Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering found that ULEZ had only cut nitrogen dioxide by less than three per cent and had insignificant effects on ozone and particulate matter.
And now both Khan and Labour have been forced to deny that ULEZ cameras will be used to facilitate a pay-per-mile road tax, which it is claimed will be the next stage of a vision for a car-less society.
The Mail on Sunday reports that the Mayor of London’s office and TfL produced papers that stated: “New technology could be used to integrate existing schemes such as the Congestion Charge, Lez and Ulez into a smarter, simpler and fair scheme that would charge motorists on a per-mile basis.
“Different charging rates would apply depending on variables such as how polluting a vehicle is, the level of congestion in the area and access to public transport.”
The newspaper said the document, which was part of a consultation on ULEZ, said: “We are now starting to explore the potential for future road user charging.”
Transport Secretary Mark Harper said it “has been suggested” that “Labour plan to use air pollution to attempt to justify bringing in pay-per-mile charging for every car in London”. The Forest of Dean MP said the Government will back amendments to the upcoming Levelling Up Bill to ensure such changes require local council consent.
The Mail reports a “Government source” who claimed: “Ulez is just the start for them [Labour]. The next stage is driving cars off the road. Labour’s vision is basically a carless society – certainly in the cities. They have been looking how to technically do this for every road.”
However, Labour said this claim is “completely untrue”. And a spokesman for Khan told the Mail the allegations are “complete nonsense”.
“Sadiq is crystal clear – a pay-per-mile scheme is not on the table and not on his agenda,” added the spokesperson.
However, earlier this month, Khan said that it could help improve air quality “if you charge people on how many miles they drive, how polluting their vehicle is, what time of day they’re driving”. He described “road-user charging” as “quite exciting”, reported The Telegraph.
