Sadiq Khan under pressure over ULEZ after Keir Starmer admits tax on drivers was key to shock Tory victory in Uxbridge and South Ruislip

Labour disarray over Sadiq Khan‘s ‘tax on drivers’ deepened yesterday, after Sir Keir Starmer admitted it had been a gift to Tory campaigners following the shock by-election result in Uxbridge last week.

In a public sign of anger over the Labour London mayor’s unpopular plans to extend his Ultra-Low Emission Zone (ULEZ), Sir Keir said: ‘We are doing something very wrong if policies put forward by the Labour Party end up on each and every Tory leaflet.’

The blunt statement to Labour’s National Policy Forum came after last week’s by-election in Boris Johnson‘s former Uxbridge and South Ruislip seat, which was narrowly held by the Tories after they turned the contest into a referendum on the unpopular ULEZ.

And last night Mr Khan faced mounting pressure from across the political divide to postpone the plan to extend the £12.50 daily charge on older, more polluting vehicles across London.

Labour disarray over Sadiq Khan’s ‘tax on drivers’ deepened yesterday after Sir Keir Starmer admitted it had been a gift to Tory campaigners following the shock by-election result in Uxbridge last week

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The seat was narrowly held by the Tories after they turned the contest into a referendum on the unpopular ULEZ

Steve Tuckwell, newly elected Tory MP for Uxbridge, joined with Conservative mayoral candidate Susan Hall to demand a stop on plans to extend the ULEZ from August 29.

And the Tory demands were echoed by London Labour MPs, who fear the extension would hit the poorest hardest.

Siobhain McDonagh, MP for Mitcham and Morden, told The Mail on Sunday: ‘It cannot be right for the Left-of-centre party to be putting all the responsibility on the shoulders of people who can least afford it.’ And yesterday Sir Keir, who admitted ‘ULEZ was the reason that we lost the election in Uxbridge’, said he had spoken to the mayor and added there would now be ‘a reflection’ on ULEZ and the by-election.

Last night, Mr Khan’s office declined to say if he was considering a postponement of the scheme’s extension. But in a statement after a ‘constructive’ private discussion with Sir Keir, the mayor’s office said: ‘Sadiq has been clear he is listening to Londoners following this by-election. The mayor is always looking at ways he can address their concerns.’

Tories were delighted last week after the surprise victory in Uxbridge prevented a trio of by-election defeats, as Labour overturned a huge 20,000-plus majority in Selby and Ainsty, while the Liberal Democrats overtook a similar Tory lead in Somerton and Frome.

Tories were delighted last week after the surprise victory in Uxbridge prevented a trio of by-election defeats

Jubilant Tory MPs credited their wafer-thin 495-vote Uxbridge win to turning the by-election into a referendum on ULEZ.

One Tory source said: ‘Our campaign was basically, ‘Vote for us and Starmer will tell Khan to stop ULEZ’.’

Last night, Mr Tuckwell and Ms Hall challenged Mr Khan to respect the ‘clear message’ of west London voters ‘that the Labour ULEZ expansion must be stopped’.

Mr Khan has insisted that extending ULEZ is necessary to clean up London’s air in order to ‘save the lives of vulnerable Londoners’.

But one Shadow Cabinet Minister yesterday warned Mr Khan that, prior to next year’s mayoral elections, ‘he does not want every London Labour MP and candidate against him’. Another added: ‘This policy is deeply unpopular. In Uxbridge, it was an albatross around our necks.’