A LABOUR council aims to reduce pollution by slapping massive parking charges — on electric cars.
EV owners will pay to park outside their homes for the first time in Westminster, central London.
AlamyLabour-run Westminster Council aims to reduce pollution by slapping massive parking charges — on electric cars[/caption]
ukparlimentTory MP Nickie Aiken said: ‘It makes a mockery of its (Westminster’s) claims to want to tackle climate change and support small businesses with electric vans’[/caption]
Their general parking discount is also axed from April — in a bid to achieve net zero.
They currently pay for ten minutes in a four-hour stay.
A tradesperson needing eight hours will pay up to £36.96 instead of £1.93, up 1,800 per cent.
Local Tory MP Nickie Aiken said: “It makes a mockery of its (Westminster’s) claims to want to tackle climate change and support small businesses with electric vans.”
Other Labour councils are also targeting EVs, claiming their heavy batteries lead to more pollution.
But Westminster councillor Paul Dimoldenberg said it is keeping charges “fair, proportionate, and as low as possible”.
Even Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has said that the council should look again at the planned increases.
The PM accused the council of “penalising hard-working people” and urged it to rethink “the damaging proposals”.
He spoke out in the House of Commons after local Conservative MP Nickie Aiken raised it at Prime Minister’s Questions.