by Richard A » Sun Jul 23, 2023 2:36 pm
Yeah, you could say that!
And there has, predictably, followed an internal argument within the Labour Party. It's pretty much established - accepted by everyone - that the reason the Tories clung on to Uxbridge, albeit with a reduced majority, is opposition to a the Ultra Low Emissions Zone (ULEZ). What the ULEZ means is that if you drive a vehicle there with more than a certain level of emissions (which basically means one more than a certain age), you pay a charge for doing so. It's been in place in central London for a while and is now to be extended to the whole of Greater London. Whenever something like this is proposed, the Tories campaign against it, saying it's unfair to ordinary decent people, and they get votes on the back of it. Same happened here in Cambridge; the council want to introduce a congestion charge (you pay a daily fee for driving in the city), the Tories campaigned on a platform of opposing it and got a better than average share of the vote. But instead of saying we need to make the case for emissions reductions (in the UK, the hot days of a couple of weeks ago are forgotten as the right is saying, "17C in July, pissing it down with rain. What global warming?"), Starmer is saying, Khan, you stupid fucker, you cost us the Uxbridge by-election. It's depressing. It's nice to have Jacob Rees-Mogg see his neighbour kicked out, though.