Press Release from Mike Penning MP on behalf of the 10 Conservative MP's who have unanimously backed County Council Leader Richard Roberts' opposition to Mayor Khan's ULEZ expansion and to any ULEZ infrastructure being installed in the county.
Hemel Hempstead MP Sir Mike Penning said:
“Sadiq Khan’s ULEZ expansion has a disproportionate impact on small businesses and working people from Hertfordshire who travel regularly to outer London – a nurse at Mount Vernon or an airport-worker at Heathrow.
“It has cost a staggering £130million to set up, yet over 90% of vehicles are exempt as they meet ULEZ standards anyway. This is a cynical tax by Khan, that will not deliver the health benefits desired, but will financially hit people who do not live in London and did not vote for him or his scheme.”
Welwyn Hatfield MP and former Transport Secretary Grant Shapps said:
“Whereas the original ULEZ was designed around central London's public transport system, Mayor Khan has now extended ULEZ to the borders of the capital where public transport is patchy. He has sought to claim this decision was forced on him, whilst ignoring the fact that he has expanded the scheme to cover all of London. His scheme is taxation without representation for Hertfordshire with the least well off and those who must access the capital by vehicle for work being punished by Labour's mayor.”
Dean Russell, MP for Watford, said:
“The ULEZ extension will have a huge impact on Watford residents, particularly small businesses and those on low incomes, who need to travel into nearby London boroughs. Nobody in Watford has had the opportunity to vote for this London Mayor, yet they are having to pay his hugely regressive new tax.”
South West Hertfordshire MP, Gagan Mohindra said:
“At a time when prices are rising and household budgets are already under strain, the decision by the Labour Mayor of London to expand the Ultra-Low Emissions Zone will further stretch the finances of those who commute from Hertfordshire for work, education and to make important appointments. I am greatly concerned about how this may negatively affect emergency workers and those on low incomes in inner city areas when household budgets are already under strain.
“I believe it is morally wrong for my constituents, who were unable to vote for the London Mayor, to be subject to this form of taxation by Mr Khan, and I fully support the decision by Hertfordshire County Council Leader Richard Roberts in his refusal to permit signs for Sadiq Khan’s ULEZ to be installed in Hertfordshire.”
Sir Oliver Heald, MP for North East Hertfordshire, said:
“The extension of ULEZ is damaging to residents of Hertfordshire and workers who need to use their vehicles to get to Greater London. Hertfordshire should not help this dreadful scheme. Mayor Khan needs to think again.”
Stevenage MP, Stephen McPartland, said:
“ULEZ is another massive Labour Party attack on hard working motorists just trying to do a day’s work, as they struggle with the cost of living. The Mayor is forgetting that Stevenage and Hertfordshire residents provide so many vital public services in London.”
Bim Afolami, MP for Hitchin and Harpenden said:
“At this time of cost-of-living pressures, it is vital that we do not penalise vulnerable residents in Hitchin, Harpenden and the villages or subject them to totally unnecessary barriers to accessing vital services in London. It is absolutely right that Hertfordshire should stand up against these plans to expand the ULEZ – and I would urge the Mayor of London to re-think his decision.”
Oliver Dowden, MP for Hertsmere, Sir Charles Walker, MP for Broxbourne and Julie Marson, MP for Hertford and Stortford also expressed their support.
