Andy Burnham criticises Clean Air Zone claims about his wife

The Greater Manchester mayor Andy Burnham has said claims linking his wife's finances and the region's Clean Air Zone plan are "disgraceful".

The scheme, which would see some high-emission vehicles - but not private cars - face charges, has been delayed after it had been due to start in May.

Critics claim Mr Burnham's wife has shares in a firm operating a local electric vehicle charging network.

In a personal statement, Mr Burnham denied the allegations.

Clean Air Zones (CAZ) are designed to encourage people to use less-polluting vehicles, such as those with electric engines.

Mr Burnham said his wife, Marie-France van Heel, was employed by the marketing firm Heavenly, which involved her working with clients including Iduna Infrastructure Limited.

The latter owns Amey MAP Services Limited, which has a contract with Transport for Greater Manchester to operate the public electric vehicle (EV) network.

Mr Burnham said: "Marie-France has no direct financial relationship with Iduna.

"She does not own any shares in them and does not receive any bonus nor incentive payments from them."

He added: "We do not own any shares in any company and receive no income other than our salaries."

The mayor said he chose to declare his wife's links to EV charging and remove himself from any related decision-making "so that there could be no perception of a conflict of interest nor any suggestion of privileged information being misused".

The couple has faced criticism from some opponents to the Clean Air Zone charges, including a sign with offensive remarks that was set up by a road.

"Some of the claims that have been made about my wife are frankly disgraceful," Mr Burnham said, requesting "that this now stops".

He also criticised the Conservative Party, saying they had promoted claims that he was "the main architect of the CAZ".

A government spokesman said their "priority" was to "deliver compliance with NO2 (nitrogen dioxide) limits in the shortest time possible".

"Given the scale of the proposed Clean Air Zone, at nearly three times the size of London's Ultra Low Emissions Zone, it is important to get this right."

Mr Burnham said: "I have never had any formal decision-making role in relation to the CAZ."

He added that he was "not a member of the Charging Committee, which sets the charging policy and decides how any proceeds will be used".

The CAZ plan drew a backlash from many motorists earlier this year, with the Federation of Small Businesses saying "discussions around the financial scheme must be reopened".

Mr Burnham admitted he should have "woken up earlier" to the controversy over the scheme.

He added that attempts to raise awareness of the CAZ to the local population had "not been good enough".

"As a result of this, people only became aware of it when the cameras and signs began to appear and that has created an understandable shock and loss of trust."

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