THE Leader of the Conservatives on the London Assembly has said he thinks his party should have stepped in over the expansion of ULEZ to all 32 boroughs of Greater London.
Keith Prince, Member for Havering and Redbridge, told GB News the Conservatives “should have challenged the consultation” as he claimed the new charges were “all about raising £200 million.”
“I really don’t think Saqid [Khan] appreciates how angry people are,” he said.
“We had a special meeting this week at my council. The weekend before, I was out in the streets of Romford and I can tell you people are really angry and they’re not just angry with Sadiq, they’re angry with us too.
“And I can understand that; I can understand why they’re angry with the Conservatives because they feel we haven’t done enough to help them.
“I really do think we should have stepped in. We should have challenged the consultation because he broke virtually every rule around consultation and we should have said ‘Sorry, you’ve got to do it again.”
With reports showing that levels of air pollution on the London Underground are worse than at street level, Mr Prince told Nana Akua he believed Saqid Khan hasn’t focused on the Tube due to finances.
“He can’t raise any revenues from that,” he said.
“The London Underground is 30% more polluting than a ground level on the street. But of course, he can’t raise any revenue by taxing the tube lines but of course, he can tax people who can’t afford it and this is all about him raising £200 million.
“It’s got nothing to do with air quality because his own survey said that the impact will be negligible.
“He actually wrote to me in 2021 saying he had no plans to roll out the extension of ULEZ to the outer London boroughs and he said a blanket approach was not the way to do it.
“That’s what he said in 2021. And now, two years later, look where we are.”
Mr Prince also said he believed “some people are beginning to realise that [Khan’s] power is unfettered.”
“Even though we have the Assembly and we are able to, on rare occasions, overrule him, it’s only when we have a two thirds majority.
“As nearly half the assembly are Labour we’re never ever going to have a situation where we have a two thirds majority to stop the madness of Sadiq Khan.”
