Rotherham Council leader reacts to Keir Starmer’s policy change on ULEZ-style zones

Cllr Chris Read, the leader of the Rotherham Council, called for caution when speculating on Labour’s policies after Sir Keir Starmer reportedly scrapped his commitment to ULEZ-style clean air zones in the UK.

Sir Keir’s change of heart could be influenced by the party’s failure to win the Uxbridge and South Ruislip by-election last month with the Tories able to hold onto Boris Johnson’s former seat by campaigning heavily against the Clean Air Zones.

Cllr Read told the Local Democracy Service he would avoid looking too much into reports on Labour’s policies this early but repeated his statement that there was no need for clean air zones in Rotherham.

He said: “The Labour Party will publish in its manifesto before the next election detailed plans for how the next Labour government will improve the lives of people in our country – and until then I would be wary of speculating too much on policy documents.

“But you would have to be a lunatic to think that Labour was ever going to be introducing a charging zone for people driving in central Rotherham.

“The Tories threatened us with charging more than five years ago as part of their Clean Air Zone plan and we fought off their proposal at that time, demonstrating that there was no need here.

“Unfortunately despite our best efforts, small Rotherham businesses are still being affected by the charges that the Conservatives did force onto Sheffield and other cities because this government declined to give them the level of support that we were asking for.”

Only last week, Cllr Read found himself in a “row” over the CAZ as the Rother Valley MP Alexander Stafford claimed that a Clean Air Zone was coming to Rotherham, accusing the local authority of refusing to rule out “charging for accessing our town centre”.

In his post, Mr Stafford also said that Angela Rayer, the deputy leader of the Labour Party, was in the area “meeting with Rotherham Labour Councillors about plans for our area”.

Cllr Chris Read, the leader of Rotherham Council, tweeted a screenshot of the Facebook post, and said: “Apparently MPs can just lie now.”

He added: “The idea that Angela Rayner came to Rotherham for a clandestine discussion about it is a straightforward lie that should be beneath him. Labour’s Deputy Leader joined us to campaign against the Tories.”