Almost a week has passed since the Uxbridge by-election, and it remains a catalyst for at least a flirtation with abandoning green policies by both main parties.
Downing Street is still letting it be known that the Tories’ extremely narrow victory, in a seat considered safe enough for the prime minister last time round, is prompting considerable thinking on whether there might be more electoral mileage to be found in turning their backs on the green agenda.
Sir Keir Starmer and Angela Rayner, too, have responded not by sticking up for London mayor Sadiq Khan, who is expanding London’s ultra-low-emissions zone entirely in keeping with the plans of his Tory predecessor and the Tory transport secretary, but by distancing themselves from the policy, and questioning whether its implementation might be done in a different way.
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