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The Starmer government of 2024 is now very much in play

Editorial: The disastrous by-election results for the Tories are a case study in the adage that ‘oppositions don’t win elections, governments lose them’

Friday 21 July 2023 22:11 BST
Comments
22 July 2023
22 July 2023 (Dave Brown)

Unless every Labour local authority and mayoralty in the UK imposes an exorbitant ultra-low-emission zone (Ulez) charge on its residents, or similar, then Sir Keir Starmer can still count on becoming prime minister in about a year or so, on all the polling and election evidence available.

Admittedly, many Labour councils and mayors have introduced clean air and congestion schemes, to mixed reviews, but only Sadiq Khan has fashioned one that has generated a nationally significant political reaction – and pushed Labour back in the Uxbridge by-election.

With masterly understatement, the Labour leader called on the mayor of London to “reflect” on the political implications of his (entirely justified) drive for clean air in the capital.

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