By-elections UK: Boris Johnson not a factor in Uxbridge and South Ruislip as ULEZ and cost of living dominate

The former Prime Minister’s actions are less important to voters than what comes next

He dominated the political landscape across a three-year period marked by Covid lockdowns, but it was issues – not Boris Johnson – clearly influencing how people were voting in Uxbridge and South Ruislip.

Speaking to people in the constituency in West London, the attitude towards the former prime minister swings between apathy and disdain, but does not appear to be the prime reason for how people have voted.

Labour candidate Danny Beales is hoping to wake up on Friday as the new MP for the seat, seeing off Tory candidate Steve Tuckwell in the suburban constituency, located as the final stop on the Metropolitan line.

Labour campaigners listen to the shadow justice secretary, Steve Reed.

While Mr Beales was ahead by ten points in a Britain Predicts survey published last month, history is not on his side, with the seat electing Mr Johnson at the last three general elections, and only electing Tories for the past 40 years. Even in the peak years of Tony Blair, this seat stayed blue.

With Mr Johnson triggering a by-election after being found to have knowingly misled Parliament, over parties in Downing Street during Covid lockdowns, his actions had been expected to dominate much of the campaign, with even the Tory candidate distancing himself.

In reality, it’s much more nuanced. Numerous voters told The Scotsman while they disagreed with Mr Johnson’s actions, they were voting to force change on the cost of living, or to stop ULEZ.

The Ultra Low Emissions Zone, a £12 daily charge for driving certain polluting vehicles, is set to expand to outer London, something both the Labour and Tory candidate have opposed. Introduced by London mayor Sadiq Khan, the Tories have sought to fight the election as a referendum on the issue, something that appears to have cut through.

Independent candidate Joseph 77 poses by the train station.

Retired former engineer, Clive, 67, who was walking his dog Smilo, told The Scotsman he based his vote on stopping ULEZ.

He said: “I’m totally against the ULEZ, that’s my first thing. I think that’s ridiculous out here, there’s nothing wrong with the air quality. That people have to pay £12.50 just to come, that really irks me.

"I think it will damage the economy of the area because it's got a shopping centre that people come to, and it’s very close to even further out, so people come here from outside of the zone.

“I’ve lived here for well over 30 years, and I was quite a supporter of the previous supporter, Mr [John] Randall, who did a very good job for the town. As far as Boris is concerned, he was a bit of a liability, and he wasn’t a local man, and not a good local MP.

Uxbridge and South Ruislip has bigger problems than Boris Johnson.

"He was a character, but as a local MP, he didn’t do much for this area”.

This view was shared by one of the independent candidates, a retired carpenter formerly known as Thomas Darwood, now calling himself Joseph 77, a name he claims to have chosen to reference Joseph's struggle against the Pharaoh in the Bible.

Spending polling day outside the station with posters and a megaphone, Joseph explained he wanted to finish Brexit, with ULEZ being the only local issue he cared about.

He said: “It is about the ending of Brexit, that is still a trauma with policy not developed to satisfy leavers or remainers.

The Chimes shopping centre in Uxbridge.

"The only local issue is ULEZ, which I think is an outrageous policy to implement, it is out of sync with people struggling with the cost of living. Also it is not justified scientifically, because in this area, it does not pollute to that level of degree”.

However, there were those deeply angry at not just Mr Johnson, but the Tory party in general.

Concierge Emerson, 53, explained he was purely voting to stop the Conservatives winning, having seen the impact a Tory Government had on the area.

He said: “I just want to see the Conservatives out, I’m going to use my vote as a weapon to get them out of office. I’m a foreigner, and I’ve been here since Tony Blair times and I’ve seen the difference, I’ve been here nearly 23 years.

"The problem is not Boris, he’s just a clown, a populist. But it’s the Conservatives, that’s the bigger picture. I’m Brazilian and we had Bolsonaro in Brazil, they had Trump in America, and it’s happening here”.

Others on the high street were less interested in who won, insisting “all politicians were the same”, or “nothing changes”.

Charity worker Hannah, 24, said she didn’t like Mr Johnson, but didn’t trust Labour either.

She explained: “The Government doesn’t care about the young people or society, all this talk of a recession is just an excuse not to spend money. I don’t care about all the Labour or Tory noise, nothing will change. It's only people who actually make a difference.”

Speaking to people through the constituency, Labour posters and campaigners were always in sight, while the station seemed to have more people arriving wearing red rosettes every few minutes. Tory posters meanwhile were rare, with their activists perhaps elsewhere.

The Labour campaign is being run by the MP for Croydon North, Steve Reed, the shadow justice secretary, who admitted he was surprised how little Mr Johnson was coming up on the doorstep.Speaking as Labour campaigners knocked on doors in the seats suburbs, he said: “The top issue all the way through has been the cost of living. It's dominated the news.

"People's mortgages are going up, prices in the shops are skyrocketing, and people are still feeling the pain from the energy bill hikes over the winter, they’re just worried they can’t make ends meet.

“The Conservatives have tried to run their campaign as a single issue on ULEZ, but that’s only because they haven’t got anything to say on cost of living.

“What is surprising is that Boris doesn’t really come up. The Tories were worried, he’s stayed away from the campaign trail, because they thought he was a negative. But he’s not really come up.“A few people will mention him, say they like or don’t like him, he’s a Marmite character. But this by-election is really about what the parties are offering now in the future.”

By the early hours of Friday morning, across the three different seats up for grabs, we’ll know which offering voters chose.