Sadiq Khan dips into London reserves to pay for £50m scrappage scheme after Uxbridge by-election row
Sadiq Khan has dipped into City Hall’s reserves to fund a major expansion of the car scrappage scheme in London, following a bitter row over emissions in the wake of Labour’s by-election loss in Uxbridge.
The Labour Mayor of London insisted he will not scrap the planned expansion of the Ultra Low Emissions Zone (Ulez) into Greater London later this month, despite the move being blamed for the party’s failure to take Boris Johnson’s former seat last month.
However, Mr Khan appears to have bowed to political pressure from Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer, who suggested last week that the party must “rethink” the expansion in the wake of the Uxbridge loss.
The London Mayor said he would instead roll out a massive expansion of the car scrappage scheme to include all Londoners with heavily polluting cars.
The programme was previously only open to those on certain benefits, including Universal Credit, carer’s allowance and disability living allowance.
It provides financial help for people to replace non-compliant vehicles so they don’t have to pay a £12.50 daily charge to drive within the Ulez area when it expands to cover all of London on 29 August.
Those eligible for help can get up to £2,000 for scrapping a polluting car or up to £1,000 for scrapping a motorcycle, while small businesses and traders will be able to receive up to £21,000 in grants to scrap up to three vans.
The expansion will also allow businesses and charities with a non-compliant van to claim up to £7,000 as part of the new expansion – up from £5,000 previously. Meanwhile, grants for wheelchair accessible vehicles will increase from £5,000 to £10,000.
Mr Khan announced he would dip into London’s coffers to shore up an extra £50m to fund the expansion, taking the total cost of the scheme to £160m.
The London Mayor said expanding Ulez to cover the whole of the capital was a “difficult decision” but that he remains committed to improving Londoners’ health and tackling the climate emergency.
He added that he was “not prepared to step back, delay or water down the Ulez policy” despite political backlash, and that “the cost of inaction would simply be far too high a price to pay”.
“I have always said that expanding Ulez to the whole of London was a difficult decision, and not one I took lightly – but it’s a decision I remain committed to seeing through,” Mr Khan said.
“I’m not prepared to step back, delay or water down vital green policies like Ulez, which will not only save lives and protect children’s lungs by cleaning up our polluted air but help us to fight the climate crisis.”
It will be seen as an attempt to sweeten the pill for commuters angered by the Ulez expansion later this month, which has sparked a reckoning of Labour’s green policies.
It comes after the High Court dismissed a legal challenge by five Conservative-led councils against the Ulez expansion last week, with the judge ruling he was “satisfied that the Mayor’s decision … was within his powers”.
Sir Keir said last week that he backed Mr Khan’s efforts to enlarge the scrappage scheme to help Londoners upgrade older vehicles but refused to say whether he supported the Ulez expansion altogether and admitted he had spoken to Mr Khan about the scheme.
The Labour leader called on the Government to put more money behind a more generous scrappage scheme in London, arguing that ministers have done so for similar schemes in Birmingham and Bristol.
“I want [Mr Khan] to reflect on the impact it’s having on people … to look at the scheme and see whether there are things that can be done to make it easier for people,” he said.
“The first is the scrappage scheme, the money that people get if they actually change their car. The Government has put money behind similar schemes in Birmingham and Bristol but not in London. A proper scrappage scheme massively helps people. But the Government at the moment won’t do it. That’s one measure, but I want the mayor to look more broadly.”
The Conservatives have also re-examined environmental policies in the light of the Uxbridge result, with Prime Minister Rishi Sunak saying he had ordered a review into “anti-car schemes”.
