Sadiq Khan v James Cleverly: Tory's Ulez attacks 'is poison to key voters' in London Mayor race

Sir James Cleverly has been warned that proposing to tear up the Ulez ultra low emission zone risks being ‘poison’ to key voters in the London mayoral contest.

Sir James Cleverly resigned from the shadow Cabinet to run for Mayor of London

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"In Outer London, this really quite vindictive assault on drivers, both people that drive for family reasons and for people that drive for business, is causing real harm,” he added.

“So I want to look at a whole range of options to ease the costs and pressure of people getting around the city and doing business in the city."

But the Conservatives have challenged the findings, particularly Ulez’s impact in Outer London in cutting air pollution.

In terms of the election for Mayor of London, a recent poll suggested Sir James would need to gain a large proportion of second preference Liberal Democrat votes to win.

Mayor of London Lord Sadiq Khan is expected to decide next year whether to seek a fourth term in City Hall

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The Tories were on 18%, making a joint total with Reform of 38%.

The Lib Dems were on 10%.

So for Sir James to get the backing of the majority of Londoners to win the mayoral election under the supplementary voting system he would almost certainly have to persuade a sizeable share of these Lib Dems voters to support him as their second preference contender.

“Proposing to remove the ultra-low emission zone might help win back Reform voters in parts of Outer London but would be poison for many Lib Dems.

“Supporting the UK leaving the ECHR (European Convention on Human Rights) to reduce asylum seeking might win votes in Essex, but would be less attractive to many moderate London Tories.”

The MP for Braintree in Essex added: “The personal attributes are at least as important as party affiliations, that's how you win London.”

Pro-European Conservative peer Lord Heseltine

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However, Professor Travers outlined the challenges that ex-Foreign Secretary Sir James would face, including having been an ardent backer of Brexit.

He explained: “James Cleverly, who voted to leave the EU, would need to tread carefully into the role of Conservative candidate.

“It would be no use adopting a ‘Brexit worked wonderfully’ line in a city which voted by a wide margin to remain in the EU.

“Cleverly would need to be more Heseltine than ‘hard line’,” he added, referring to the pro-European Conservative peer.