Mayor of London Sadiq Khan has flatly denied the expansion of the Ultra Low Emission Zone (Ulez) scheme is a cash grab exercise.
From today, Ulez has expanded to cover all of Greater London. The scheme, aimed at improving air quality, charges people a daily £12.50 fee for driving vehicles that don’t meet certain emissions standards.
Speaking on Good Morning on Britain, Mr Khan said the expansion was “absolutely not” a fund-raising exercise.
He said he “fully accepts there are those with concerns” but said, “there is no level of air pollution that is safe”.
From today, Ulez has expanded to cover all of Greater London. The scheme, aimed at improving air quality, charges people a daily £12.50 fee for driving vehicles that don’t meet certain emissions standards.
Speaking on Good Morning on Britain, Mr Khan said the expansion was “absolutely not” a fund-raising exercise.
He said he “fully accepts there are those with concerns” but said, “there is no level of air pollution that is safe”.
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NewsTranscript
00:00 government said to me a couple of years ago that I need to be expanding the congestion
00:05 charge that would have been a cash grab. That would have been to raise money. The U.S. policy
00:12 is a public health policy. And you know what? Experts from Imperial College to King's College,
00:19 the chief medical officer, the World Health Organization all say air pollution is a public
00:25 health crisis. But many experts also agree U.S. is the most effective policy in cleaning
00:31 up air in the world. If clean air is good enough for central London and inner London,
00:36 why not outer London? There is no level of air pollution that is safe. Our predictions
00:40 are the expansion will lead to a reduction of nitrogen dioxide, which is the main pollutant,
00:46 by around 10% from cars, a reduction of around 16% in particular matter. And when I tell
00:53 you that the 30 GP practices in London with the largest number of patients with respiratory
01:00 problems like asthma and the like, 24 of the 30 are in outer London. So we've got to do
01:05 something about that.