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The Revolt Against Ulez: Meet the People Fighting Back

by Richard Eldred
27 August 2023 1:00 PM

The recent Uxbridge by-election has intensified political resistance to Ulez and broader Net Zero targets. This shift isn’t just political, says Clive Martin in the Sunday Times. It’s a rising populist counter-movement against the assumed march towards environmentalism. Here’s an excerpt:

The words Uxbridge and Ulez will forever be associated. It was in this corner of West London that the Tories inflicted a surprise by-election defeat on Labour. [Note: it was a Conservative HOLD not a GAIN.] The reason for their win? Opposition to Ulez, the ultra-low emission zone that London Mayor Sadiq Khan is proposing to extend to outer London – and due to come into force on Tuesday, despite a flurry of protests, pamphlets and legal injunctions.

The Uxbridge election sent a tidal wave through British politics, sweeping both Labour and the Tories into firmer anti-Ulez positions. It turbocharged the pushback against Net Zero. But more than that, the fight over Ulez has birthed a counter-revolution – a populist, anti-technocratic, sceptical and, at times, conspiratorial fight back against what was previously seen as a settled direction of travel, towards a greener future.

That is why it matters; these forces will not disappear when the Ulez expansion comes into force this week. Just as the capital was the birthplace of the first anti-car measures in the U.K., so it may prove to be a template for the fight back against the anti-green push back.

Earlier this month I met Prabhdeep Singh in Uxbridge. Singh, a taxi driver and former Army dentist, was five days into a seven day hunger strike against the Ulez expansion. He was not looking well. To make matters worse, his HQ (a market-style gazebo) was situated right next to a bakery and a branch of Costa Coffee. “My stomach is empty, but my spirit is full to the brim,” he assured me.

The scheme itself is simple enough. Ulez (which stands for ‘ultra low emission zone scheme’) works by charging a £12.50 levy for using diesel vehicles more than eight years old and petrol cars more than 18.

Singh drives a private hire car and drives to Heathrow regularly, though he lives in Reading. “That’s how it affects me,” he said, speaking slowly so as not to expend too much energy. I asked him if he had any hope of getting through to City Hall: “The reason I’m starving is not to move Sadiq Khan, if he’s not moved by the hundreds of thousands of people suffering, then one starving man in Uxbridge isn’t going to either. It’s a symbolic approach, to show people what life will become like.”

Singh is, clearly, an extreme example of the opposition to Ulez. But his position does capture something of the movement’s spirit. What drives a man to go on hunger strike just to oppose the introduction of an anti-pollution scheme? A sense of injustice perhaps. A sense of deep attachment to his car and the rights and freedoms he associates with it. And, on a deeper level perhaps, the feeling of having your daily reality interfered with by a distant technocratic chasing an eco-fantasy. “This is about how we’re all going to be affected. It’s about all England,” Singh says. And in some ways he is right.

When Ulez was first introduced to inner London in 2019 there was a degree of discontent from familiar voices: professional motorists, lite libertarians, concerned councillors et al, but it was largely accepted as just another expense in capital life.

But in 2023, the mood is very different, and the reasons for that lie in the geography. Ulez has been extended beyond the expensive, historic centre of town and into the suburbs. This green land grab extends from Hillingdon to Hornchurch, Enfield to Erith. Which means that the scheme now encompasses parts of London where driving a car is not just a lifestyle choice, but a borderline-necessity. In these areas, people are more likely to work in trade jobs, thus relying on their car, more likely to have children, more likely to have older relatives and more likely to drive a non-compliant vehicle.

Worth reading in full.

Tags: Anti-UlezGreen AgendaSadiq KhanULEZUlez Expansion Scheme

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15 Comments
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StickyWicket
StickyWicket
1 year ago

Indeed, political and popular support for Net Zero is cracking. Popular discontent is going to rise when more people realise that supposedly “cheap” renewables are driving expensive electricity bills. See why here:

https://davidturver.substack.com/p/renewables-increase-electricity-bills

64
-2
huxleypiggles
huxleypiggles
1 year ago

We are at war with the state and that is the reality that people must wake up to. After ULEZ it will be something else but we must NEVER give in.

‘It’s War Jim, but not as we know it.’

131
-2
soundofreason
soundofreason
1 year ago

The main problem is giving local tin-pot dictators the authority to raise taxes separate from those of the state.

The state sets the ‘road fund licence’ tax rates which are (now) set to reflect how polluting the vehicle is. On top of this the state sets the fuel ‘duty’ which hits those who do more miles or whose vehicles are more inefficient. So far, so fair to all. The complaint that this is somehow not fair to those who have to travel further is unreasonable – it has always been the case that if you travel further it costs you more in time and fuel.

However, the above arrangement does not bring in any funding for local Mayors and their coterie so the likes of Sadiq Khan use the powers granted to them by the state to get more money. If it’s not the ULEZ charge it will be some other local tax(es).

47
0
JohnK
JohnK
1 year ago
Reply to  soundofreason

Many of them will carry on lobbying for business rates to return to them, instead of being payable to the Treasury. Years ago, such rates were local, and led to some pretty affluent local councils, such as Stratton St. Margaret Parish Council – which happened to have a few substantial factories in it.

10
0
David101
David101
1 year ago

Is Net Zero about environmental or public health? Unlikely. I just had an in-depth conversation with ChatGPT about the types of organizations, investors and financial institutions that would stand to lose out if Net Zero were abandoned tomorrow. The answer was quite revealing, especially when I narrowed down its answer to eliminate the effects of climate change itself (since it is likely to have been programmed to believe in AGW), focussing solely on the financial losses, and specifically requesting examples of investors and financial institutions that would take a hit.

Try it!

22
-3
NeilofWatford
NeilofWatford
1 year ago

‘The Uxbridge election sent a tidal wave through British politics’.
Sorry, disagree.
It just changed the spin strategy of the Unaparty. They all want to kill off personal transport, but now they’ll talk freedom but find a thousand ways to kill it off.
As a fighting force, its vital we understand the rules of engagement in the war for our British way of life.
Please pay attention.

64
0
huxleypiggles
huxleypiggles
1 year ago
Reply to  NeilofWatford

Absolutely agree.

“…tidal wave ?”

Barely a splash.

Still, if the 2024 election is allowed to go ahead and is not deliberately tampered with there will be an awful lot of unemployable ex MP’s dumped on the market. They should of course be polishing their CV’s but after the last three and half years what on earth have they got to say about themselves? And telling the truth – for a change – won’t do them any favours.

30
-1
nige.oldfart
nige.oldfart
1 year ago
Reply to  huxleypiggles

The only way an election will make any difference is if the no shows and spoilt ballots are counted as a no confidence vote, but the politicians are so full of their own importance any criticism is taken as the ignorance of the masses. But today it doesn’t just stop at politicians and their assumed self importance, it is now a facet of every part of the public sector employ.

30
-1
huxleypiggles
huxleypiggles
1 year ago
Reply to  nige.oldfart

Or as I have stated umpteen times:

Our salvation will not arrive via the ballot box.

24
-1
huxleypiggles
huxleypiggles
1 year ago

A little dump but a worthy one:

https://www.conservativewoman.co.uk/are-gps-finally-seeing-sense-over-the-jabs/

12
0
JohnK
JohnK
1 year ago
Reply to  huxleypiggles

Could be good news, but perhaps a more mundane reason could be that the practice has changed hands. They come and go, as do pharmacies, like the one near my place. After all, their balance sheet might have been disrupted over the last few years.

5
0
VAX FREE IanC
VAX FREE IanC
1 year ago
Reply to  huxleypiggles

A good piece from CW as is usual. Sadly the words ‘straws’ and ‘grasp’ spring to mind.
GPs have another agenda. Heard of QOF (Quality of Outcomes Framework). A nice little earner for them.
Take a look at the final feature in this episode of UK Column at around 56mins.
https://www.ukcolumn.org/video/uk-column-news-25th-august-2023

QOF screenshot2.jpg
4
0
huxleypiggles
huxleypiggles
1 year ago
Reply to  VAX FREE IanC

Many thanks. I’ve shared this widely. I am a subscriber to the excellent UK Column but don’t have much time at the moment.

1
0
JohnK
JohnK
1 year ago

Some might be, but according to certain news reports there is a degree of opportunism as well, with some selling off-road parking on their own property to those who don’t want to park on certain roads at the ULEZ boundary!

5
0
RTSC
RTSC
1 year ago

Since it’s behind a paywall I can’t read the full article.

However from the excerpt quoted, it’s noticeable that the writer focuses on a single Asian-heritage man who has gone on hunger strike and has failed to mention the large number of so-called Blade Runners who are destroying the ULEZ cameras as fast as they’re installed.

6
0

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