The Conservative London Assembly member for Bexley and Bromley has claimed Sadiq Khan doesn’t understand outer London following his re-election.
Thomas Frederick Turrell was victorious over the Labour candidate Kevin McKenna, winning 90,103 votes compared to McKenna, who secured just 50,174.
Turrell said: “Bromley have rejected four more years of Sadiq Khan.
“I think they rejected it because clearly Sadiq Khan doesn’t understand outer London, so that’s why this election matters: it’s about getting our voices heard at the election.
“We were campaigning to reverse ULEZ and that was our number one priority because we think it just doesn’t work in outer London.
“It just doesn’t have the same impact that the expansions have elsewhere.
“I think the high turnout in Bexley and Bromley is an indication of how strongly people felt to come out and stop Labour getting their third term because they just aren’t listening to outer London.
“I really hope the fact that we bucked the trend and the turnout went up here will be an indication to Sadiq Khan that they need to listen to outer London.
“As Sadiq Khan now has a third term, I don’t expect him to reverse ULEZ so the main end would now be to get those public transport improvements.
“We’ve seen that the Superloop was a missed opportunity as it doesn’t go to those communities hit hardest by ULEZ, and neither does the manifesto for the Superloop 2.
“What we really need is a Superloop 3 to go out to these communities like the north of Bexley, and put into the London transport strategy a commitment towards extending the Elizabeth line towards Ebbsfleet.”
ULEZ has been a major point of contention within the Bexley and Bromley constituency following its expansion to the whole of London in August.
Four London councils including Bexley and Bromley as well as Surrey County Council, challenged this decision to judicial review and lost, costing £730,941.
The borough of Bromley defended this by saying the split cost between boroughs of £147,853.20 would amount to £1 per household and therefore was a risk that was worth taking.
Since the expansion there have been ‘bladerunners’ removing and destroying ULEZ cameras.
Additionally, the Bromley pageant of motoring was cancelled as result of the venue it would be hosted in, Norman Park now being impacted by ULEZ, and created a wide anger amongst the regular attendees.
In the previous 2021 elections, the Conservative candidate Peter Timothy Fortune had won with 97,966 and Labour getting 47,389.
The slight decrease in votes for the Conservative party could be linked to the exponential growth in the Reform UK party in Bexley and Bromley, going from 5,861 in 2021 to 27,603 today.
This follows Susan Hall’s mayoral win in Bexley and Bromley, which was her first win, though it wasn’t enough as Khan secured a landslide victory.
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