Former London mayor turned future candidate has announced that if he wins back his seat in City Hall he won't re-introduce the western extension of the congestion charge.
Boris Johnson scrapped the controversial charge last Christmas - a movewelcomed by all the people that were ignored in the original consultation but condemned by environmental groups who claim that the western extension is one of the few things standing between London's citizens and certain death by pollution.
The decision was also criticised at the time by Ken Livingstone himself; 'Cutting £50m-£70m in revenue a time when public services are under severe pressure makes no financial sense, and with Boris Johnson's own estimates that the removal of the western extension will increase traffic, it makes no sense in terms of traffic flow or pollution either.'
The Western extension. Goodbye!
Given that the congestion charge was originally intended to deter traffic from entering central London thus reducing congestion and pollution, it appears that even its creator now seems to view it as a revenue-raiser and it's become a symbol of class-war rhetoric and dubious attempts at eco-taxation.
It's not all good news though - Ken still plans to resurrect the £25 charge for larger vehicles, infuriatingly and inaccurately labelled as the 'gas-guzzler charge', a policy which Boris Johnson binned almost the moment he became mayor so it looks like motorists are once again in the middle of political point-scoring.
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