Keir Starmer has backed Sadiq Khan’s call for the government to put money behind a more generous scrappage scheme to help Londoners upgrade older vehicles as the party seeks to limit the electoral fallout of the policy.
The Labour leader said that ministers should help fund a “proper scrappage scheme” for owners of more polluting cars affected by the London mayor’s plans to expand the clean air zone, as they have done for similar schemes in Bristol and Birmingham.
He also said that Khan should “look more broadly” at extra support and mitigations that could be put in place, after the expansion of the mayor’s ultra-low emissions zone (Ulez) was blamed for Labour failing to seize Uxbridge and South Ruislip in last week’s byelection.
However, Starmer refused to say whether he supported the extension of the scheme, which is the subject of judicial review at the high court by outer London councils. He pointed to the mayor’s legal obligation to improve air quality in the capital.
Conservative strategists believe they can use discontent about the Ulez in last week’s byelection as a weapon to save a raft of Tories under threat in the city’s outskirts.
Rishi Sunak has indicated the government could delay or even abandon green policies that impose a direct cost on consumers as he attempts to create dividing lines with Labour at the next election.
Downing Street said the government would “continually examine and scrutinise” measures including a ban on new petrol and diesel cars by 2030, phasing out gas boilers by 2035, energy efficiency targets for private rented homes and low-traffic neighbourhoods.
Further questions have been raised about Labour’s commitment to measures to tackle the climate crisis after Starmer delayed plans for his £28bn green investment fund by two years because of economic turmoil.
In BBC Radio 5 Live phone-in, Starmer said: “I want [Khan] to reflect on the impact it’s having on people … to look at the scheme and see whether there are things that can be done to make it easier for people.
“The first is the scrappage scheme, the money that people get if they actually change their car. The government has put money behind similar schemes in Birmingham and Bristol but not in London. A proper scrappage scheme massively helps people. But the government at the moment won’t do it. That’s one measure, but I want the mayor to look more broadly.”
However, Starmer added: “We can’t pretend that this is a simple political decision. You can’t just say yes/no without regard to the legal context. If the law requires a measure to be taken, it is not in the gift of the mayor to say ‘I’m simply not going to do it’.”
Khan is under mounting political pressure to rethink his plan to extend the Ulez at the end of August. He told the Financial Times: “The government has given other cities hundreds of millions of pounds for scrappage schemes and clean air zones. All we are asking for is fairness and that London gets the same.”
He added: “It’s not right that the government hasn’t provided a penny for Londoners while giving so much to other cities.”
Transport for London, chaired by Khan, has set up a £110m vehicle scrappage scheme for small businesses, charities and Londoners in receipt of child benefit or universal credit affected by the Ulez.
However, drivers have complained that the £2,000 on offer for cars is only a fraction of the cost of replacing their vehicles.
