Keir Starmer, aka Vacillation Man, could lose Labour the next general election if he backtracks on climate change and pollution – Kenny MacAskill

Labour’s defeat in the Uxbridge by-election was more about Keir Starmer’s failure to defend policies like the expansion of London’s ultra-low emission zone than has been recognised

The ultra-low emission zone (Ulez) was clearly a factor in the Tories holding Uxbridge and Ruislip, galvanizing their support, including those reluctant to support the current shambles of a government. It was at least something to vote against rather than stay at home, which was what happened in the two seats the Tories lost.

But Labour’s vacillation on the issue also cost them. The Tory majority was roughly half what the Green candidate polled. Some of them might have been persuaded to vote tactically had the Labour candidate not spoken out against it and the party not ostracised the London mayor, Sadiq Khan. Other voters who might have enjoyed reveling in another Tory defeat saw no joy in supporting a candidate selling out on that and other core issues such as child benefit cap, and simply stayed home.

So yes, Labour lost it rather than the Tories winning it, but the blame lies with Keir Starmer, not with Khan. The latter has been lambasted unfairly, after all, Ulez wasn’t even a concept thought up by him. Credit there has to go to Boris Johnson when he was mayor and it’s also a policy being pushed more widely across the country by the Tory government.

Khan’s taking the rap for doing what needs done, what’s right. He’s been hamstrung by the Tory Energy Department who’ve starved him of the funds to properly carry it out. The irony of Ulez is that those who most benefit from it are the poorest in inner London, few of whom can afford a car yet pay the price in asthma and other critical health problems. Lives are saved by this, it’s not just less polluted air on the streets of old London town.

Equally though, the others who lose out most are the poorest further out who can only afford the oldest and most polluting vehicles affected by this. Not for them the luxury of an electric or hybrid car. The solution is a car scrappage scheme, recompensing those who require a cleaner vehicle. But Khan has been denied funds to properly achieve that.

But done it must be. Pollution is killing us and hard choices need made. There’s always going to be a section of society who say “who cares, I’ll drive what I want, where I want”. The same is true that, whilst our planet burns, some will insist on flying wherever and whenever. But we can’t go on like this as Rhodes is showing.

Politicians are going to have to make hard decisions, many of which will be unpopular. Of course, that will galvanize the populists in opposition and challenge those seeking to do what needs to be done. But good people will stand by those who stand up for what’s right. It’s always been the case and it will be even more so as the challenges mount and the cost of change impacts on people.

Voters don’t have to welcome or even necessarily agree with a politician to back them. But they do have to respect them. It’s why you should say what you mean and mean what you say. Starmer’s saying little and standing by less. He’s ‘Vacillation Man’ – it cost them Uxbridge and could yet cost him the election.

Kenny MacAskill is Alba Party MP for East Lothian