[Politics] Uxbridge: Keir Starmer says Labour must learn lessons of by-election defeat

[BirSaNN]

Labour must learn the lessons of its by-election defeat in Uxbridge, Sir Keir Starmer has said.

The Labour leader had blamed the loss on London Mayor Sadiq Khan's plans to expand the Ultra Low Emission Zone (Ulez) - a tax on polluting vehicles.

Conservative Steve Tuckwell won the seat after campaigning against the tax.

Addressing Labour's national forum, Sir Keir said there was "something very wrong" when a Labour policy was on "each and every Tory leaflet".

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In a bruising week for Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, Labour and the Lib Dems took two safe Tory seats. Labour's Keir Mather, 25, won in Selby and Ainsty, North Yorkshire, overturning a 20,137 majority to become the youngest sitting MP.

The Conservatives clung on narrowly in the third by-election, in Uxbridge, Boris Johnson's former seat, despite a big swing to Labour.

Sir Keir said that while the by-election win in North Yorkshire should give Labour "every reason to be confident", the loss in Uxbridge showed there was "still a long way to go".

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The Conservative win in Uxbridge sparked debates about both parties' green policies.

Sir Keir told the BBC the Ulez plan had cost Labour victory - but Mr Khan has defended the measure as the "right one".

Speaking during a visit to Shefford in Nadine Dorries' constituency of Mid Bedfordshire, the Labour leader told journalists: "I don't think there is any doubt that Ulez was the reason that we lost the election in Uxbridge."

Sir Keir said he had spoken to the London mayor, adding: "But we're not sitting back, we're not looking over our shoulder. We're pressing forward."

Sources close to Mr Khan told the BBC he was in "constructive listening mode".

Asked whether Labour needs to rethink its climate polices, Sir Keir said: "When it comes to green commitments, it's not a question of whether they should be done, of course it needs to be done - it's how they're done.

"So there's a discussion to be had about that."

Mr Tuckwell, the winning candidate in Uxbridge, said the "damaging and costly Ulez policy" had lost Labour the seat.

The Ulez is a £12.50 daily charge for driving in London, applicable if the vehicle does not meet certain emission standards. It initially covered the same central area as the congestion charge before widening to the North and South Circular roads in 2021.

A further expansion to cover all London boroughs is due to start on 29 August.

On Friday, Labour's deputy leader Angela Rayner said the Uxbridge result showed that "when you don't listen to voters, you don't win elections".

Cities need clean air, she said, but she warned that people who needed new vehicles must get "proper compensation and support" so that the policy does not come "at the cost of working families".

Some on the right of the Conservative party say that pulling back from some green policies would prove popular with voters, at a time when families are feeling cost-of-living pressures.

Tory MP Craig Mackinlay, chairman of the Net Zero Scrutiny Group, has suggested delaying the ban on new diesel and petrol cars, pushing it back "at least" five years to 2035.

Downing Street sources say there are no plans to change climate targets - but that Prime Minister Rishi Sunak will try to set his party apart from Labour in the coming months.

link: https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-66277211