Sadiq Khan could be forced to scrap his planned expansion of London's ultra-low emission zone (ULEZ) after dealt a fatal blow to Labour in last week's Uxbridge by-election.
The Mayor of London is now being told by the party's top brass to think again about the much-hated scheme which has sparked protests from people living in areas where it is set to be introduced.
Mr Khan, who previously said the ULEZ was the 'right' way to deal with pollution in the capital, has indicated he could look again at the policy and is in 'constructive listening mode'.
It comes after party leader Sir Keir Starmer phoned the mayor and told him to consider changing course after it was beaten by the Tories at the Uxbridge and South Ruislip by-election by 495 votes.
Labour had been in pole position to flip the seat after the resignation of former Prime Minister Boris Johnson, but furious voters made their views on the capital's Labour mayor by re-electing a Conservative MP.
Protesters demand an end to plans to expand the ULEZ scheme at a demonstration outside BBC Broadcasting House yesterday
Mayor of London Sadiq Khan, pictured at a central London cafe on Friday, has said he is in 'constructive listening mode' about the policy
A Labour source told the Times the Mayor has promised to review the policy after talks with Sir Keir, adding: 'It's clear Sadiq is going to be reviewing it.'
READ MORE HERE: Pressure on London Mayor Sadiq Khan to backtrack after failure to win Boris seat blamed on controversial fines
AdvertisementIt would be a humiliating step-down for Mr Khan, who has been unyielding in his defence of the scheme and previous said clean air was a 'human right, not a privilege'.
His flagship policy - which will see the £12.50 daily charge on older, more polluting vehicles extended into outer London - came under fire from his party bosses only hours after the dust settled from the by-election in the north west of the capital.
Sir Keir said: 'We are doing something very wrong if policies put forward by the Labour Party end up on each and every Tory leaflet.'
And the civil war, brought on by fears in the party that its green policies could cost it at the next election, has exposed rifts over how it deals with its big-spending green policies.
Now some of Sir Keir's top advisers, including his director of strategy Deborah Mattison, have claimed their predictions the ULEZ expansion would lose votes have come true.
One party insider told the Times: 'At the start of the campaign, there was a lot of talk about it [Ulez] being scrapped.
“当然，去年的这个时候，黛博拉也是那些希望工党标志变成绿色的人之一，这样我就能理解为什么萨迪克在听到她这么说时感到有点困惑。”
Steve Tuckwell 周四当选为乌克斯布里奇和南莱斯利普保守党议员后发表演讲
反 ULEZ 示威者在周六的抗议活动中呼吁停止扩大该计划
<元内容="https://videos.dailymail.co.uk/video/mol/2023/07 /23/1832230499554473221/1024x576_MP4_1832230499554473221.mp4" itemprop="contentURL" />但汗先生的同事们对这些计划的反对声音持续增长。
米查姆和莫登选区议员西奥本·麦克唐纳 (Siobhain McDonagh) 周日对《每日邮报》表示：“中左翼政党将所有责任都推到最无力承担的人身上，这是不对的。”
乌恩影子内阁部长昨天警告汗先生，在明年的市长选举之前，“他不希望每个伦敦工党都这么做”议员和候选人反对他”。
另一位补充道：“这项政策非常不受欢迎。”在乌克斯布里奇，这对我们来说是一个沉重的负担。”
兴高采烈的保守党议员将乌克斯布里奇以 495 票的微弱优势获胜归功于将补选变成了对 ULEZ 的公投。
一位保守党消息人士表示：“我们的竞选活动基本上是，‘为我们投票，斯塔默将告诉汗阻止 ULEZ’” .'
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