Boris Johnson lashes out at Sadiq Khan over ULEZ

Boris Johnson lashes out at Sadiq Khan over ULEZ as the former Prime Minister claims the scheme has nothing to do with pollution

• Khan insists scheme will save lives as 4,000 die from air pollution each year
• Read more: London Mayor Sadiq Khan’s Ulez expansion could be stopped 

Boris Johnson yesterday criticised Sadiq Khan’s low emission zone expansion in London and claimed it has nothing to do with air pollution.

The former mayor accused his Labour successor of misleading the public about the scheme’s health benefits.

Mr Johnson said the Ultra Low Emission Zone was designed to fill a black hole in Transport for London’s finances, not to save lives. The controversial levy will be expanded on August 29 and will impose a daily charge of £12.50 on non-compliant cars in all of the capital’s boroughs.

Mr Khan has insisted the scheme will save lives as 4,000 Londoners die from air pollution each year.

But Mr Johnson hit back saying the charge ‘has nothing to do with improving air quality. It’s all about Khan’s catastrophic mismanagement of TfL finances.’

Protesters with ‘Stop ULEZ’ signs line the roads with a backdrop of black smoke flares at Trafalgar Square

Former prime minister Boris Johnson leaves his home in London, the day after his appearance before the Commons Privileges committee over his denials of No 10 parties during the pandemic

READ MORE: Tractors parade in Orpington against Sadiq Khan’s plan to spread Ulez

The former prime minister told the Sunday Telegraph: ‘How can it be right that Khan is able to impose this tax on working people who have been given no say, and no opportunity to raise their objections?

‘This scheme was never intended for outer London. Khan must be stopped.’

Hundreds of protesters took to the streets in hi-viz jackets over the weekend to campaign against the expanded scheme.

They waved placards reading ‘Free Our Streets’ in Trafalgar Square. Mr Khan has justified the scheme using figures based on Imperial College London modelling which state pollution accounts for 70,200 life years lost each year, the equivalent of 4,100 deaths.

But campaign group Together calculated that pollution reduces each Londoner’s life by an average of 68 hours per year, while life expectancy increases by an average of 73 days a year.

Ben Pile, of Together, said: ‘Rather than causing deaths, at worst, air pollution slightly impedes the rate at which life expectancy increases.’

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