By Guy Taylor
Sadiq Khan’s Ultra Low Emission Zone (ULEZ) policy is using a “sledgehammer to crack a nut,” the minister for London has said.
Paul Scully told TalkTV: “I think the further you get out of the city… clearly the less impact something like the ultra low emission zone is going to have.”
“You can see here when the mayor and his deputy mayor are doubling down on this sledgehammer to crack a nut, which is going to affect businesses, charities and the lowest paid people in and around London,” Scully added.
Scully’s comments follow reports in the Telegraph this weekend, that Khan had attempted to discredit and silence scientists who found that ULEZ had little impact on air pollution in the capital.
Private emails revealed that the London Mayor’s deputy for environment and energy had emailed Imperial College Professor Frank Kelly, so say that she was “really disappointed” that college had published findings which questioned the ULEZ schemes’ effectiveness.
Kelly, the director of Imperial’s Environment Research group – which has received £800,000 from Khan’s office since 2021 – subsequently agreed to issue a statement that ULEZ had helped to “dramatically reduce air pollution.”
Although Scully said that the “original ULEZ” would have an impact, he slammed the attempts by Khan to attack the study.
The ULEZ scheme enforces a £12.50 levy on drivers whose emissions fail to meet certain environmental standards, with the aim of reducing congestion and noise pollution in the capital.
Labour leader Keir Starmer has since backtracked on similar policy proposals from the party, to introduce
ULEZ-style clean air zones throughout the country.
Khan has faced numerous challenges to the proposals since its inception, but successfully threw out a High Court challenge in July from five Tory-led councils over his proposals to expand the zone across all of London’s boroughs on 29 August.
The Mayor’s office was contacted for comment.
