PRESS RELEASE : Mayor of London calls for PM to back ULEZ with scrappage cash for London and Home Counties [February 2023]

The press release issued by the Mayor of London on 23 February 2023.

• Government have previously funded scrappage schemes in Manchester, Bristol and Birmingham but not in London and south-east
• Mayor asks Rishi Sunak to help double the size of his unprecedented £110m London scrappage scheme

The Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan has urged the Prime Minister to join him in his mission to clean up London’s toxic air. In a letter to Rishi Sunak the Mayor calls for a new targeted scrappage scheme to help people in the Home Counties to retrofit or replace vehicles that are not compliant with the Ultra Low Emission Zone, ahead of the zone’s expansion to the Greater London boundary in August.

The Mayor has already established the largest scrappage fund ever offered in the UK, totalling £110m for Londoners, without a single penny of Government support. Sadiq is therefore also asking the Prime Minister to replicate the funding offered by Government when other cities established their clean air zones and double the size of his scrappage fund for Londoners, allowing thousands more polluting vehicles to be taken off the roads. The Mayor points out that Greater Manchester, Bristol, Birmingham and Bradford all received funding from Government for their own scrappage schemes, whilst London and the Home Counties have received nothing despite being net contributors to the Treasury every year and Londoners paying £500 million of vehicle excise yearly, which is then spent on maintaining roads in other parts of the country.

The request comes as it is reported the Chancellor has received a £30bn windfall in the public finances ahead of the Spring Budget next month. The Mayor believes there is no better use for a small percentage of this money than to help clean up the capital’s air.

Toxic air caused by traffic is still leading to children growing up with stunted lungs and nearly 4,000 premature deaths a year – with the greatest number of deaths attributable to air pollution in London’s outer boroughs. Earlier this month a major new report showed that harmful pollution emissions have reduced by 26 per cent within the current ULEZ area – compared with what they would have been without the 2021 expansion coming into force.

Letter to Prime Minister on Scrappage Scheme / Air Quality targets

Dear Prime Minister,

As you will no doubt be aware, London is in the grip of a deadly public health crisis. Toxic air pollution is causing the premature deaths of an estimated 4,000 Londoners every year, while children in our city are growing up with stunted lungs because the air they breathe is poisoning them. It is no exaggeration to say this is one of the greatest scandals of our time and an injustice we must act urgently to address.

As Mayor, I’ve taken swift and decisive action to protect the health of Londoners – bringing forward the implementation of our Ultra Low Emission Zone and then expanding it to cover inner London. The impact of this has been nothing short of transformative, with levels of one of the most dangerous pollutants in our air cut by almost a half in central London and by more than a fifth in inner London, ensuring that more than four million Londoners are now able to benefit from cleaner air.

However, there is still a long way to go to protect our communities from this invisible killer. If no additional action is taken, it is estimated that around 550,000 more Londoners would develop diseases attributable to air pollution over the next 30 years – ruining lives, condemning a generation of children to ill-health and costing the NHS and social care system in the region of £10.4 billion.

It is abundantly clear then that the cost of inaction is far too high and that further action is needed to safeguard public health and spare people unnecessary suffering. I’m simply not prepared to stand idly by while toxic fumes from highly polluting vehicles choke our communities and leave our children reaching for inhalers and gasping for air. That’s why I’ve chosen to expand the Ultra Low Emission Zone London-wide. We know it will deliver cleaner air for five million more Londoners and save lives, particularly in the outer boroughs of London, where the greatest number of deaths attributable to air pollution currently occur.

The ULEZ is a highly targeted scheme, designed to get only the most polluting vehicles off the road – with 85 per cent of vehicles seen driving in outer London already meeting the required emissions standards and not liable for the new charge. And I’ve announced the biggest scrappage scheme yet – £110 million – to support Londoners on lower incomes, disabled Londoners, micro businesses and charities to scrap or retrofit their non-compliant vehicles.

However, there is more to be done, which must include proper national action to tackle air pollution and the climate crisis.  So I urge you to use some of the unexpected £30bn windfall in the public finances to not only match the funding allocated for scrappage in London, but to introduce a targeted scrappage scheme that provides help to those based in the home counties who drive into London with the most polluting vehicles.  I also hope my approach on eligibility for scrappage and exemptions can be followed nationally.

Following an order by the Supreme Court to tackle the illegal levels of air pollution across the country, the Government has been working with other cities and regions to introduce clean air zones. This has included some national support for local scrappage schemes, including in Greater Manchester (£120m), Bristol (£42m), Birmingham (£38m) and Bradford (£30m).  But London and the home counties, including Surrey and Kent, have not received even a penny of support from central government. London, the South East and the East of England make net contributions to the Treasury every year and Londoners pay £500 million of vehicle excise yearly, which is then spent on maintaining roads in other parts of the country. For our regions to pay in so much and not be helped to reduce carbon emissions and make our air safer to breathe is unfair and doesn’t make sense.

I truly believe the polluted state of our air – and its consequences for the health of our citizens and the next generation – is one of the greatest scandals of our time. It’s a travesty on a par with the harm done to our children’s health by second hand cigarette smoke. It took decades before action was taken to address that menace and, as political leaders with the power to make a difference, we can’t be responsible for a similar delay that damages our young people’s health and slows our efforts to avert a climate crisis.

So I urge you to become a doer, rather than a delayer, when it comes to climate action and reducing air pollution, and to bring an end to the failure of leadership we have seen at the top of national government on these vital issues for far too long.

Yours sincerely,

Sadiq Khan