Boris Johnson’s old seat has tiny Tory majority but Labour still predict ‘tough’ fight

General Election candidates for Boris Johnson’s old London seat have traded blows over ULEZ nearly one year after the scheme was expanded. Cllr Steve Tuckwell, who won the Uxbridge and South Ruislip by-election in July, has a tiny majority of 495 votes.

But, Labour’s candidate, Danny Beales, has told MyLondon that he is taking nothing for granted in an area ahead of a rematch on July 4 as the seat is ‘tough’ for his party to crack. Speaking after Sir Keir Starmer, Rachel Reeves and Angela Rayner visited Uxbidge to launch the Labour ‘battle bus’ on Saturday (June 1), Cllr Beales accused Cllr Tuckwell of ‘not being honest’ with voters.

He said: “It’s closer than it’s ever been. We’ve not had a Labour MP here in my lifetime, not since the 1960s. It’s a tough place, but we’re fighting for every vote. We’re not taking anyone for granted, and I would say the feeling on the doors at the moment is that people, even if they’ve not voted Labour ever before, are frustrated, feeling change is needed in this country.”

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When asked what he made of his opponent’s record since he was elected, Cllr Beales said that Cllr Tuckwell made a ‘grand promise’ to stop the ULEZ expansion last year, and he ‘can’t really see a record’ from the Tory victor. Cllr Beales added: “I was always honest with people that I had my concerns about ULEZ, I understand people’s frustrations, I would lobby and push for more support and for a delay.

“But I was honest with people that, as an MP, I didn’t have the power to stop it. He wasn’t honest with people… I think people are really frustrated with that. That one thing that they were promised by him, that one thing that got their vote hasn’t been delivered.”

On which issues will be important to voters this time round, Cllr Beales said that people will be casting their ballots amid a high cost of living, crime and the future of Hillingdon Hospital, which Labour has promised to ‘rebuild’ if elected. On whether he expects more Labour MPs in the capital after the election, Cllr Beales said making predictions is a ‘fool’s game’ and the polls are ‘saying positive things’ but the Party needs to ‘earn every single vote’.

Cllr Beales ‘in league with Sadiq Khan’

Cllr Tuckwell said: “Sadiq Khan’s candidate from Camden backed ULEZ from day one, and does whatever City Hall demands – his so-called ‘opposition’ to the policy was paper thin at best. This sort of politics may work in Camden, but they don’t work here in Uxbridge where I was born and raised.

“This election is a choice, me, a local representative who will stand up for Uxbridge and South Ruislip, or a candidate in league with Sadiq Khan, who will represent his interests instead of yours.”

Full 2023 by-election results

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