Sadiq Khan wins third term as London mayor: comment

Commenting on the news that Sadiq Khan has won a third term as London mayor Alasdair Johnstone from the Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit said: "The Uxbridge by-election of last year seemed to have sparked a change of rhetoric on net zero policy by the Conservatives, even though the two are unrelated. Given ULEZ has not played a significant role in the London mayoral race, they may wish to reevaluate their wider approach. Indeed, the Prime Minister’s U-turn speech on net zero policy last September didn’t translate to a bounce in the polls, quite possibly the opposite. One of the Conservative’s most strident supporters of net zero, Ben Houchen, provided the big win for the Conservatives in Tees Valley."

Polling in the days leading up to the London elections found that those who said they were likely to vote ranked the Ultra Low Emissions Zone as ninth from a list of top issues [1]; overall polling found widespread, majority support for the UK’s net zero climate target across voters for all main parties [2].

ENDS

Notes to editors:

1. London voter poll: ULEZ not ‘net zero’, not a big issue: https://eciu.net/media/press-r...

2. Election poll: Voters for all parties committed to net zero: https://eciu.net/media/press-r...

For more information or for interview requests:

George Smeeton, Head of Communications, ECIU, Tel: +44 (0)7894 571 153, email: george.smeeton@eciu.net