For months, national forecasts suggested Labour would comfortably win Uxbridge and South Ruislip from the Tories. The party has been specifically targeting Boris Johnson’s former seat (he resigned last month) on the outer fringes of west London since the 2019 general election. When the opportunity finally came at this week’s by-election, Labour failed. The Tories held the seat by a white-knuckle margin of 495 votes.
This is partly due to Ulez, the Ultra Low Emission Zone, a charge on the most polluting vehicles, announced by Johnson as London mayor in 2015 and introduced by his successor Sadiq Khan in 2019. In 2021, it was expanded to the north and south circular roads, and is due to cover all of Greater London (including Uxbridge) from this summer.
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