After Uxbridge, le deluge. In Manchester at least. In parts of Greece it was wildfires. For Rishi Sunak it was just a bonfire. A bonfire of green policy. The world was not quite warm enough. What the UK needed was a culture war.
Who would have guessed that the result of one byelection in west London could have such far-reaching consequences? The message Labour took from Uxbridge was that maybe Sadiq Khan would like to rethink his Ulez scheme with a general election due in less than 18 months. When it should have maybe pointed out during the byelection campaign itself that the clean air scheme had actually been introduced by the Tories. And that the then transport secretary, Grant Shapps, had written to Khan to enforce it. Instead, Labour had tried to disown it entirely, hoping voters would ignore it. Go figure. Let the public die.
