Durham Miners’ Association chair STEPHEN GUY speaks to Ben Chacko about the Reform threat, what’s needed from Labour and why the Big Meeting will never lose its politics
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London’s congestion charge: tackling climate chaos needs radical solutions and courageous political leadership
This month marks 20 years since the introduction of the congestion charge — one of the achievements I am most proud of from my time as mayor of London that I knew would gain support once it had started, writes KEN LIVINGSTONE
A congestion charge sign in London
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Andy Burnham’s message of hope will defeat Reform if Labour delivers the New Deal for Working People in full, says JOANNE THOMAS
General Federation of Trade Unions president and bakers’ union general secretary, SARAH WOOLLEY, guides us through the GFTU’s Summer School happening this week at Quorn Grange Hotel
The government’s latest asylum proposals abandon labour movement values and fuel division by aping Reform UK, writes DIANE ABBOTT MP
Can Andy Burnham’s programme deliver a productive economy – or merely a softer version of capitalism, asks VINCE MILLS
IAN LAVERY MP warns that decades of neoliberal policies have left former industrial communities behind — but a renewed Labour commitment to working people could change the political landscape
THE congestion charge was both a progressive tax and an environmental tax.
It was an environmental tax because it targeted one of the biggest sources of pollution — traffic. In many ways, it was an early form of a carbon tax. Although we didn’t call it that at the time, we were already very concerned about climate change and air pollution, which meant we knew we had to use pricing to discourage unnecessary driving.
The congestion charge was progressive because it was deliberately designed to primarily affect the wealthiest Londoners, who contributed the vast majority of car trips in that zone of central London.
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