Jason Torrance, UK100's interim chief executive, responds to the Government’s criticism of clean air zones, low-traffic neighbourhoods and other net zero schemes.
From opposition to local authority schemes that aim to increase local travel choice and reduce motor traffic such as clean air zones and low traffic neighbourhoods to 'maxing out' fossil fuels while rolling back on energy efficiency, UK politics appears — at the moment — to be suffering from a collective Uxbridge Derangement Syndrome that risks killing off rational climate discourse. Meanwhile, wildfires spread through Europe and the UK braces for 40-degree summers to become the norm.
Since the Uxbridge by-election, one lingering question has cast a long shadow across the main parties: did opposition to expanding the Ultra-Low Emission Zone (ULEZ) save Boris Johnson’s old seat for the Conservatives? And more importantly, do Labour and the Conservatives now need to jettison bold action on net zero and clean air amidst a cost-of-living crisis?
It is easy to over-analyse one-by-election result and draw the wrong conclusions. Especially one where both the Labour and Conservative candidates opposed, to varying degrees, ULEZ expansion, and Labour came just 500 votes short of taking a seat that has only ever returned a Conservative MP. Whatever role ULEZ played in the results, one thing is clear: Uxbridge residents did not vote to reject net zero.
The apparent move to weaponise climate action in the wake of Uxbridge is a worrying and misguided overcorrection. And one that tarnishes the net zero legacy of previous Uxbridge and South Ruislip MP and 'Britain's greenest Tory leader in years'.
That is not to say we cannot pause to reflect on some universal truths. The cost-of-living crisis has starkly highlighted the urgent need to ensure a renewed focus on a just transition that does not disproportionately impact the most vulnerable. At the same time, we should be clear that net zero is unlikely to be the battleground issue that will win or lose marginals across the country. But a knee-jerk retreat does risk losing thousands of votes in the seats any party needs to form a government at the next general election. Polling consistently finds: 'there is, in fact, no part of the electorate that net zero scepticism plays well with.' A retreat also risks economic pain, with the Office for Budgetary Responsibility recently finding that the cost of not zero would far outstrip the cost of net zero.
While the glut of new oil and gas licences understandably grabs the headlines, with ULEZ, LTNs, speed limits and parking charges, what the leader of the opposition and the Prime Minister are both doing is — despite admirable rhetoric and progress on devolution — threatening to pull Westminster's favourite lever of last resort; the centralisation of power away from local authorities.
Let us hope that Uxbridge Derangement Syndrome is a temporary ailment because local authorities in the UK have influence over more than 80% of greenhouse gas emissions and are critical to the UK's world-leading Net Zero goals — as recognised by the Climate Change Committee, the COP27 Glasgow Climate Pact and Independent Review of Net Zero, Mission Zero. Meanwhile, PricewaterhouseCoopers has calculated that for every £1 spent on local climate action, around £14 of wider social benefits are delivered.
It is also local leaders that are most trusted by their residents to deliver the right climate policies for the communities they represent. And most believe they need more powers, not fewer. Our latest report Powers in Place — a handbook of the powers local authorities have at their disposal to deliver net zero — found local leaders already face Kafkaesque barriers to climate action, including a lack of a clear policy framework and disjointed and competitive funding pots that divert limited resources away from delivery.
Despite this, councils of all political stripes have been pioneering net zero initiatives nationwide, demonstrating that climate action is not only possible, but is happening right now at the local level. And it is at the local level where leaders are eschewing partisan division and collaborating across party lines to deliver for their towns, cities and regions.
As the Greater Manchester Mayor, and UK100 member, Andy Burnham, says: 'It’s not always going to be the case that [a local leader] who was elected to be the voice for their place and do what’s right for the place, will always then necessarily fall in with some of the Westminster thinking ... We do our job better when it’s place first, rather than party first'.
Devolution and net zero go hand in hand. As Chris Skidmore MP, the Government's former Climate Tzar, outlines in Mission Zero: 'Unlocking the ambition of places and communities will deliver the most successful version of net zero.' It's time for our national leaders to take a step back from the frenzied post-Uxbridge discourse, trust in local leaders, and unleash their potential to deliver net zero.
