{"id":269905,"date":"2023-07-28T14:01:28","date_gmt":"2023-07-28T12:01:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=269905"},"modified":"2023-07-28T14:01:31","modified_gmt":"2023-07-28T12:01:31","slug":"climate-shock-an-anti-ulez-candidate-just-won-a-london-election","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=269905","title":{"rendered":"Climate Shock: An anti ULEZ Candidate Just Won a London Election"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

From Watts Up With That?<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Essay by Eric Worrall<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
David Hawgood\u00a0\/\u00a0Sign for London ultra low emission zone<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

More proof ordinary people push back when green policies start to bite, regardless of what they say on climate surveys.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

Britain\u2019s next election could be a climate change culture\u00a0war<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Published: July 27, 2023 1.03am AEST<\/em>
Ed Atkins<\/a>
Senior Lecturer, School of Geographical Sciences, University of Bristol<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

A byelection in a London suburb has placed environmental policy at the centre of political debate in the UK, and could make it a key battleground in the next general election.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Conservative party narrowly held former prime minister Boris Johnson\u2019s seat in Uxbridge and South Ruislip, vacated after his resignation from parliament. The win has been cast as a victory driven by popular anger\u00a0<\/em>against climate policy<\/a>, particularly\u00a0<\/em>London\u2019s ultra-low emissions zone (Ulez) \u2013 an area where drivers of the highest-polluting vehicles must pay a fee.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The winning candidate positioned himself as the\u00a0<\/em>anti-Ulez choice<\/a>, tapping into local anger at the policy. But as comments from\u00a0<\/em>media<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0<\/em>politicians<\/a>\u00a0show, the Uxbridge story signals a new stage of national politics that\u00a0<\/em>demonises environmental policies<\/a>. And my\u00a0<\/em>research<\/a>\u00a0suggests this could develop into an important new front in the culture war, with the power to help determine the next election.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The opposition to Ulez is highly partisan. Nationally,\u00a0<\/em>59% of Conservatives oppose Ulez<\/a>\u00a0schemes compared to 23% of Labour voters. In\u00a0<\/em>London<\/a>, 72% of those who voted Leave in the 2016 Brexit referendum opposed the Ulez expansion. Former Remain voters are evenly split, with 44% in support and 44% against the policy.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Conservative prime minister, Rishi Sunak, has now\u00a0distanced the government<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0from green policies that could contribute to household expenses.<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0Labour leader Keir Starmer acknowledged the role that Ulez played in the loss, saying\u00a0<\/em>that \u201cpolicy matters\u201d<\/a>\u00a0in elections. He also called on Khan to\u00a0<\/em>\u201creflect\u201d<\/a>\u00a0on the Ulez expansion.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Read more:\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

https:\/\/theconversation.com\/britains-next-election-could-be-a-climate-change-culture-war-210351<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

The BBC interviewed residents after anti-ULEZ candidate\u00a0Steve Tuckwell\u2019s<\/a>\u00a0victory;<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

Residents of Uxbridge react to narrow Tory by-election victory<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

By Yasmin Rufo<\/em>
BBC News<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Asked why they think the Conservatives held on to the seat, there is one clear and overarching explanation from voters here: the expansion of the ULEZ.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mr Rolt, 50, supports the expansion of the ULEZ, saying he is \u201c<\/em>amazed that people in Uxbridge are happy living with dirty air<\/em><\/strong>\u201c.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Another local resident told the BBC that he \u201cnever usually votes\u201d, but felt \u201c<\/em>forced to vote for anyone that would stop ULEZ<\/em><\/strong>\u201d as he was worried about how much he would have to pay to replace his non-compliant car.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Despite this apparent rejection of the scheme in Uxbridge, the mayor of London\u2019s office says expanding the zone is \u201ca really difficult decision but necessary to save lives\u201d.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The clean air-zone is set to expand on 29 August, and anyone driving a non-compliant vehicle will be charged a daily rate of \u00a312.50.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Polling conducted by JLP showed the ULEZ expansion was the second most important issue for people after the cost of living.<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Read more:\u00a0https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/uk-england-london-66267672<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

The pushback against ULEZ is encouraging, but there is a bigger question: Why aren\u2019t British people pushing back harder against other green policies, like green energy?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Green energy is not cheaper and better for the environment, it is hideously expensive, and peppers the landscape with ugly, heavily subsidised mechanical monstrosities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I believe the explanation for the lack of opposition is that most Britons are not aware of the true source of their cost of living pain.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

People I know in Britain don\u2019t blame green energy policies for their cost of living pain, they blame energy company greed. The BBC has been using their enormous,\u00a0coercively subsidised<\/a>\u00a0media reach to push the corporate greed narrative, publishing numerous stories hilighting energy company profits, blaming the Ukraine war, and\u00a0demanding the government do something about greedy energy company wartime profiteering<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But obvious green cost of living hits like ULEZ cannot be hidden behind the Ukraine war smokescreen, so are fair game for courageous politicians who are prepared to take a few risks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There will be a day of reckoning, when everyone wakes up to how badly the BBC has let them down with their defective coverage of cost of living issues. The wildly popular upstart media company\u00a0GBNews has provided politicians like Nigel Farage a high profile platform, which he uses to call out BBC green energy mistruths<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I believe some mainstream British politicians can already see the writing on the wall. A handful of politicians appear to be positioning themselves, quietly cautioning others about Net Zero<\/a>, announcing reforms<\/a>, creating a public record of concern which may save some of their necks when more British people start to ask the right questions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

For more information about the disastrous cost of living and economic impact of the global Net Zero push click here<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

But obvious green cost of living hits like ULEZ cannot be hidden behind the Ukraine war smokescreen, so are fair game for courageous politicians who are prepared to take a few risks.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":121246920,"featured_media":269915,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","_crdt_document":"","advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[691818389,691818056,691818118,691821405,691818154,691819935],"class_list":{"0":"post-269905","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","6":"hentry","7":"category-uncategorized","8":"tag-bbc","9":"tag-climate-change","10":"tag-green-energy","11":"tag-heavily-subsidised","12":"tag-net-zero","13":"tag-ulez","15":"fallback-thumbnail"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/001H02V4SMY1P7DKP2WH43RT0FJ.jpg?fit=4032%2C2268&ssl=1","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/paxLW1-18dj","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":366625,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=366625","url_meta":{"origin":269905,"position":0},"title":"London\u2019s Blade Runners: Climate, Class War and the Corruption of Science","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"17\/02\/2025","format":false,"excerpt":"The UK papers carried stories recently about the punishing penalties that London\u2019s drivers have paid under Mayor Sadiq Khan\u2019s Ulez (ultra-low emission zone) scheme. 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