Sadiq Khan pushes ahead with hated Ulez expansion after by-election disaster
Sadiq Khan has vowed to push ahead with his controversial Ulez expansion after being blamed for saving the Tories from a three-part by-election humiliation.
The Conservative Party managed to hold on to Boris Johnson’s former constituency of Uxbridge & South Ruislip by just 495 votes as Hillingdon Borough Councillor Steve Tuckwell edged out Labour’s Danny Beales
Johnson won the seat for a third-time in 2019 with a majority of 7,210 but Labour looked poised to gain the west London seat as the Tories continue to flounder in the opinion polls.
However, Khan’s plan to expand his Ulez scheme to outer London provoked a backlash at the ballot box.
Tuckwell said: “It was his damaging and costly Ulez policy that lost them this election.”
The two-time London Mayor fired back against his critics just hours after results from Uxbridge & South Ruislip, Selby & Ainsty and Somerton & Frome came in.
Khan said clean air was a “human right, not a privilege”.
He added: “Of course I am disappointed this seat, which has never been Labour in my lifetime, didn’t go Labour last night.