Sadiq Khan admits mayoral elections will be judgement day on Ulez and other transport policies

Sadiq Khan has admitted that the mayoral elections will effectively become judgement day on the popularity of his transport policies such as the Ulez.

Asked at a BBC London TV hustings to be broadcast on Thursday night whether he had succeeded in bringing Londoners with him as he attempted to clean up the air and discourage car travel, Mr Khan made the stark confession: “We will find out on May 2.”

He restated his vow not to introduce pay-per-mile road charging, despite previous indications that he was in favour of replacing the Ulez and congestion charge with a “smart” system to help reduce emissions.

“We don’t need it now,” he said. “We expanded the Ulez to cover all of London. We will get to net zero without the need for pay-per-mile.”

Mr Khan, who is seeking a record third term in next Thursday’s elections, was unexpectedly clear about his support for some LTNs (low traffic neighbourhoods), many of which have been installed by councils using Government money allocated by Transport for London.

“I do support councils who have good LTNs,” he said. “Where they are not good, we will try and persuade them to change them.”

The BBC London TV hustings will be broadcast on Thursday night (BBC)

Asked whether he would do anything differently in relation to the way the Ulez was expanded Londonwide last August despite being opposed by a majority of respondents to TfL’s official consultation, Mr Khan said: “No.”

He said that just as Londoners wouldn’t put up with dirty water, they shouldn’t put up with dirty air. He said he had acted in response to the death of south London schoolgirl Ella Kissi-Debrah, who was the first to have road pollution given as a cause of death on her death certificate, and said “lives have been extended” because of fewer cases of asthma.

“This is an issue of social justice. It’s an issue of racial justice,” he told the invited audience at the Bernie Grant Centre in Tottenham.

The hustings, which also featured Tory candidate Susan Hall, Lib-Dem Rob Blackie and Zoe Garbett for the Greens, saw a woman whose teenage brother who was the victim of a fatal knife crime attack challenge the candidates on what they would do to reduce the threat to young Londoners.

(Evening Standard)

Tilisha Goupall, whose brother Jermaine was killed aged 15 in a pre-meditated attack by a gang in Croydon in 2017, told the Standard afterwards: “I don’t think they answered the question. I feel like they went round in circles when I asked what they would do other than stop and search.”

Mr Khan, who spoke privately with Ms Goupall after the programme, was forced by BBC presenter Eddie Nestor to defend his record on violent crime.

Mr Khan, who grew up in Tooting, revealed: “I could have been one of the young people who got involved in knife crime. My youth club saved me – my boxing club saved me.”

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