Every week, over 1.4 million people watch my breakfast radio show. For many, it’s a chance to express their own perspective on what’s making the news. And my task is quite simple: present stories that resonate with listeners, take a stand or ask a question and hope it will make them want to contribute. Sometimes even a word is enough to get people picking up their phones or getting involved via email, text or Tweet. The word Brexit certainly did. Trump too. As did, on some occasions, simply saying “Boris”. But now there’s a new one: Ulez.
It may only be four letters, but it has caused an all-powerful row – and also looks set to create a civil war within Labour. For those of you who live outside the metropolis and surrounding areas, Ulez mainly means that older, more polluting vehicles have to pay £12.50 to drive in the area which will soon encompass all of London’s boroughs. It also hits anyone who drives to the area from surrounding counties, such as Kent and Surrey, and indeed everywhere else.
And while Labor is pinning its hopes on securing a host of seats in the upcoming round of by-elections, the one being held in Boris Johnson’s former seat of Uxbridge and South Ruislip has put the leader Sir Keir Starmer in a delicate situation. The Ulez scheme has been championed by Sadiq Khan, but Labor candidate for Uxbridge Danny Beales is in open opposition after hearing ‘heartbreaking’ stories from potential voters about its impact. It’s fair to say that Sir Keir has been less than clear about his personal stance on this. In the past he had vigorously backed the need for cleaner air in London, but he also backed his candidate from Uxbridge saying it was ‘right for him to stand up for his local electorate’.
While this doesn’t sound like a scientific investigation at all, I’m guessing around 80%+ of my callers are furious with the scheme, which is coming August 29th. “It’s nothing more than a scam to make money,” is an oft-repeated claim, such as, “How can the mayor have a warrant for this?” I hear moving stories of nurses and caregivers who are going to quit their jobs because spending thousands of dollars on an electric car or a compliant vehicle is about as realistic for them as a month’s vacation in the Maldives. The harsh reality is that they cannot afford the extra £62.50 a week to get to and from work.
Sir Keir had to deal with this when he arrived in my studio on Friday to take calls from my listeners. As he sat across from me, what he didn’t know was that of the 20 calls waiting for him, all but two concerned Labour’s position on Ulez.
The first was Tony in Tunbridge Wells, Kent, who said he had been a Labor voter all his life but that was about to change. “If you don’t arrest Mayor Khan, not only will you lose my vote, but you will lose the next general election… you have no idea the furor there.” I watched closely as Sir Keir took this exchange head-on and, feeling he hadn’t been specific enough, asked him if he backed Ulez’s introduction in just seven weeks. “I do Nick, reluctantly, because the mayor has a legal duty to clear the air,” he replied, as he sought to blame the government for not providing more money for the scrapping schedule, adding “There is no choice.”
My interlocutor Tony was not convinced, and frankly many were not listening either. In less than a fortnight, voters in Uxbridge will be able to make their choice, followed soon enough by the whole country. And the long-held theory that ‘London is a working class city’ has never been so open to challenge.
Nick Ferrari presents the weekday breakfast show on LBC radio
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