Cllr Mirza Takes Aim at Newham “Car Tax”
In his campaign to overturn the Labour majority in Boleyn Ward, Mehmood Mirza promised to oppose a range of money-making schemes imposed by Mayor Fiaz at the expense of motorists. His campaign against the variable (emissions-based) charges for residential parking has begun.
The justification for the emissions-based charging scheme is that it will contribute to an improvement in air quality. The improvement in air quality will in turn lead to better health outcomes (particularly for those with asthma and COPD). We note that despite four years of operation, Mayor Khan has chosen not to demonstrate the efficacy of the ULEZ scheme by showing a reduction in, say admission to hospital by people with asthma or COPD (within the ULEZ compared to outer London). Instead, he has relied upon estimates and projections. This hardly endears him to those who are dubious of the claims that the ULEZ would save 4000 lives a year.
The research from a reputable institution, (Imperial College) asserted that 1 million hospital admissions would be saved by 2050. This will be a good thing! Unfortunately, there do not seem to be any yardsticks by which to judge the progress towards this target. If you don’t know how you are doing, how do you know if the policy is working? But perhaps that’s the point. If nobody knows, you can’t be proved wrong.
Cllr Mirza is amongst those who have seen a raft of new charges on motorists as stealth taxes on motorists in London; some introduced by Mayor Khan, some by Mayor Fiaz. The substantial revenues raised by both give rise to the suspicion that the primary aim of these new charges is to swell the Town Hall coffers.
That’s probably not entirely true, but without the additional revenue from car-owners, Newham’s finances would be in an even more precarious state.
Newham have tried to sell the new scheme.
In introducing the new charging scheme for Newham car owners, Newham use the word ‘fair’ or ‘fairer’, three times in the first three paragraphs. It’s almost as if they were trying to send a subliminal message.
It’s a difficult message to sell however. ‘Fairer’ suggests that this is better than the previous regime, it introduces charges that can be as high as £330 pa. Prior to the Fiaz charges, the first vehicle in every household was free. It doesn’t feel like an improvement. The fact that electric vehicles are also charged, even at only £33pa, tends to strengthen the belief that the primary aim is to generate revenue.
Let’s try a thought experiment. Imagine that during the course of 2023, every car owner traded their vehicle in for an electric vehicle. Would the mayor decide that
She had succeeded in cleaning up the air and all charges would be abolished?
She would charge all EVs at £33 pa (plus inflation)?
She would hike up the charges on all vehicles to, say, £150?
We don’t know, but we can perhaps take an accurate guess.
But back to Cllr Mirza. He is seeking to capitalise upon the dissent regarding ULEZ and stealth taxes across London. Even Keir Starmer has shown that he is none-too-keen. He can claim something of a mandate from his voters in Boleyn.
If he has tapped a popular vein of dissent, this may spread into other wards and votes for more independents-against-the car-taxes.
N.B. Just in case anyone from Newham reads this, webpage is written W E B P A G E, not,
but we know that we are just as likely to commit a typographical faux pas, so we’ll stop there.