Residents of Uxbridge react to narrow Tory by-election victory

It's been an eventful 24 hours in Uxbridge and as commuters and families hurry about the town on Friday morning, there's a buzz in the air.

Although polls indicated a Labour victory in the constituency of Uxbridge and South Ruislip was on the cards, the Conservative candidate Steve Tuckwell narrowly held on to the seat vacated by Boris Johnson, winning by 495 votes.

Labour voters say they are "totally shocked" by the result, while those who voted Tory are "delighted".

Asked why they think the Conservatives held on to the seat, there is one clear and overarching explanation from voters here: the expansion of the ULEZ.

Residents, regardless of who they voted for, seem to all agree that Sadiq Khan's flagship clean-air policy, due to come into force in outer London at the end of August, played a key role in how many people voted.

Tim Rolt, a town planner, told the BBC that he was "flabbergasted at the shock result".

Mr Rolt, 50, supports the expansion of the ULEZ, saying he is "amazed that people in Uxbridge are happy living with dirty air".

He believes that this polarising issue is what drove many potential Labour supporters to vote Conservative.

Jacqueline, who has recently retired, said she was "delighted" the Tories retained the seat as now Uxbridge had an MP who "will be the man to stand up to Sadiq Khan's ULEZ expansion".

"I'm sure it was the ULEZ expansion that cost Labour this election," she added.

Another local resident told the BBC that he "never usually votes", but felt "forced to vote for anyone that would stop ULEZ" as he was worried about how much he would have to pay to replace his non-compliant car.

Despite this apparent rejection of the scheme in Uxbridge, the mayor of London's office says expanding the zone is "a really difficult decision but necessary to save lives".

The clean air-zone is set to expand on 29 August, and anyone driving a non-compliant vehicle will be charged a daily rate of £12.50.

With a turnout of 46.1% - high for a by-election - it seems many residents did indeed feel compelled to vote due to their opinions on the mayor's scheme.

Polling conducted by JLP showed the ULEZ expansion was the second most important issue for people after the cost of living.

The Labour Party also blamed ULEZ for the loss, as shadow justice secretary Steve Reed insisted those responsible for the policy needed to "reflect".

In Uxbridge, there is a clear sense of disillusionment among Labour voters who thought the seat, which remained Conservative even when Tony Blair won a landslide in 1997, would finally turn red.

Susana Mendonca, Political Reporter

The biggest issue in this election, if you look at the polling was the cost of living crisis: things like food prices, mortgages, inflation.

In theory that should have worked against the Conservatives, but the problem for Labour was that the ULEZ expansion got mixed up in that cost of living argument.

Voters saw the £12.50 a day charge for the most polluting vehicles as something that would hurt their pockets; particularly in an outer London borough where access to public transport isn't as easy as it is in inner London.

The Conservatives were able to seize on that and turn it into an issue that dominated the debate around this by-election - particularly when clear division between the local Labour candidate and Sadiq Khan was exposed after Danny Beales said it was the "wrong time" for ULEZ.

When the Labour-leader Keir Starmer got dragged into the issue he tried to sit on the fence - but that didn't shut it down.

Uxbridge is an area where Labour haven't won a seat in parliament since 1966 and this time it slipped away from them… local opposition to the ULEZ will have played a part in why Labour didn't get over the line.

Natalie Kantovich, a lawyer from Uxbridge, said she thought Labour lost "because they don't offer anything new, exciting or different".

"If every party is basically the same, people will just stick with, vote for, what they know," she added.

Josh Haywood, who works in the public sector, has a similar take.

He said: "People can't get behind the Labour Party, and I blame Keir Starmer for that."

He said Sir Keir was "not a strong candidate for prime minister" as he "lacked the personality and policies to encourage people to vote for him".

Mr Haywood, who didn't vote in the by-election as he felt "disillusioned", believes many people "loved Boris so stuck with what they knew and voted Conservative".

Mr Johnson's resignation as an MP in June, after he received a report from the MP-led Privileges Committee into whether he misled Parliament over lockdown parties at Downing Street, certainly does not seem to mean he is no longer relevant to the residents of Uxbridge.

The former prime minister remains front and centre of many minds here.

As I speak to one man about the by-election results, another woman shouts: "Bring back Boris." Another joins in and says: "We will never forget Boris."

Paul Burn, 37, tells me he wants Mr Johnson to come back as "he really cared about the people here. He bought prestige and attention to our area."

Mr Burn is worried that the new MP Steve Tuckwell, as a backbencher, will have very little influence.

"Uxbridge will probably be forgotten about," he says. "No-one will care about us now."

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