Bailey calls for key workers to be exempt from congestion charge
Conservative mayoral candidate Shaun Bailey has called for key workers to be exempt from paying the newly reinstated London congestion charge.
In a statement, Bailey said that the measure would be a “fair way” of rewarding the capital’s key workers, many of whom may be driving to avoid public transport during the current crisis.
He said that he would pay for the measure, which would cost £17m, out of the mayor’s strategic investment fund, which has £21m of unallocated funding left in it.
The proposal is part of Bailey’s wider campaign to get London mayor Sadiq Khan to reverse plans to raise the congestion charge from £11.50 to £15 in June.
As a condition of the government’s £1.6bn bailout of Transport for London, Khan was forced to reintroduce the charge, which had been suspended during the coronavirus crisis.
In response to government demands to bring forward proposals to “widen the scope and level” of the charge, he elected to raise the tariff and extend the hours of its operation to include the weekend.
Bailey said that exempting key workers from the scheme was the “bare minimum” Khan could do.
He said: “This hike will hurt everyone from small businesses, to church goers and key workers trying to get to work.
“I am campaigning for the Mayor to abandon his plans to increase the congestion charge, but at a bare minimum, he must make key workers exempt from it. Our police, firefighters and teachers must not be penalised for following government advice and driving into work”.
A spokesperson for Khan said: “The Government asked TfL to bring forward plans to increase the scope and level of the Congestion Charge as a condition of the recent funding deal.
“If Assembly Member Bailey doesn’t like it he needs to speak to the Government. TfL is continuing to work through the specific details of the proposal as quickly as possible.
“The police, teachers and all our city’s key workers continue to do a phenomenal job in responding to the impact of Covid-19 in London.”
The bailout of transport operator TfL has caused a ongoing row between Bailey and Khan, with the former saying that Khan had “taken a wrecking ball” to its finances.
Khan said that the bailout was necessary because fare revenue had dropped 90 per cent during the lockdown period, leaving TfL without the majority source of its funding.