A Local's Viewpoint on the Uxbridge and South Ruislip By-election

Compared to the performance of the Conservatives in Selby and Ainsty or Somerton and Frome, the party’s performance in Uxbridge and South Ruislip was quite successful. The new MP, local councillor Mr. Tuckwell, has a majority of just under 500 votes, significantly reduced after a 6.7% swing to Labour, but nonetheless still a majority in spite of what many observers had predicted. Based on national (and some local) polling figures, the Labour candidate, Mr. Beales, ought to have won a landslide, but to anyone campaigning – like me – on the ground in Uxbridge and South Ruislip, these were wild over-estimates of Labour’s popularity.

Why? In a word, ULEZ. The Mayor of London, Mr. Khan, is an unpopular figure in Uxbridge. The Ultra-Low Emission Zone scheme has been expanded to cover the whole of Greater London, costing certain drivers (and tradesmen) £12.50 every day, simply for driving their own car. In Uxbridge, the major air pollution problem is not car exhaust fumes, as it may be in central London, but Heathrow airport, only a few miles south in the neighbouring Hayes and Harlington constituency. Restricting car usage is thus pointless when the major local polluter is untouched. Whatever the merits of ULEZ in central London, in Uxbridge it is mainly seen as a money raising initiative to fill the financial gaps left in TfL’s funding by Mr. Khan. This has been enough to rally supporters (even some Labour voters) to back the Conservatives and Mr. Tuckwell, who ran almost exclusively on an anti-ULEZ platform. Most voters accept that the cost of living crisis is in many respects not the government’s fault – it is an amalgamation of the Russia-Ukraine conflict and the consequences of lockdown – but that a daily car tax is within the control of the Labour mayor, who is pushing ahead with the scheme despite substantial opposition. Time and time again, in my conversations on doorsteps, ULEZ was denounced angrily by residents tired of being ignored by Mr. Khan. As for Partygate, or Boris Johnson? Not nearly as common.

Another policy area which has proved controversial in Uxbridge and South Ruislip is the decision by Mr. Khan in 2017 to close Uxbridge police station. Saving Uxbridge police station was another key plank in Mr. Tuckwell’s campaign, as it was, confusingly, in the Labour candidate’s campaign. Only a few weeks ago, Mr. Khan decided to keep it open. Whether an honest decision or a piece of electioneering I do not know, but either way this was taken as evidence that pressure could be piled on Mr. Khan to protect the interests of this constituency by voting Conservative. Ultimately, the people of Uxbridge and South Ruislip, concerned about local matters, did.

This isn’t the first time that the Conservatives have done well in the Uxbridge seat against national expectations. Certainly in recent years, this has been due to the immense success of the local Conservative council in the London Borough of Hillingdon, a fact often overlooked in the national media. In a country full of gripes and complaints about local councils, I find little to criticise and much for which to be grateful. Free weekly rubbish and recycling collections, newly refurbished libraries and leisure facilities, very few potholes, and, in true Conservative fashion, a decade-long council tax freeze which only ended recently. This has given the Conservatives a strong local brand which is able to weather much of the criticism levelled at the national party. This, of course, also helped Mr. Tuckwell, himself a local councillor, to succeed in Uxbridge and South Ruislip.

Benjamin Surguy (The Publications Editor, Brasenose) is an undergraduate reading PPE, going into his 2nd year.