The latest version of the London mayor’s book includes a dig at opponents who he blames for “misinformation”, reports Noah Vickers, Local Democracy Reporter

Sadiq Khan has lambasted his opponents for sharing “misinformation” that he will launch a ‘pay per mile’ system for London drivers, despite a new edition of his book retaining a line which provoked claims he was planning one.

In the paperback edition of his book Breathe published earlier this week, the Labour mayor has added a new afterword in which he recalls, during the recent City Hall election, a visit to Harrow – the borough home to his Tory opponent, Susan Hall.

He says the area was “littered with leaflets claiming I was planning to bring in ‘pay-per-mile’ road pricing, despite me having repeatedly ruled it out”.

Khan pledged in his manifesto that he will “rule out a move to any form of pay-per-mile smart road user charging system”.

But part of what prompted him to include this commitment was the fact that the Conservatives were substantiating their claim about ‘pay per mile’ by quoting from the hardback edition of Breathe, published in May 2023.

The book said that when it comes to tackling poor air quality, “we need to go further. And we intend to”.

Khan wrote that there are “plans” in place “to introduce a new, more comprehensive road-user charging system, to be implemented by the end of the decade at the latest”.

The sentence, which was repeatedly referenced by Hall during the campaign as evidence of his true intentions, has been reproduced unaltered in the new edition of the book.

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However, in the new afterword, Khan says of his opponent’s claims: “The irony was – the Ulez expansion had proved so successful, pay-per-mile was no longer needed.”

He added: “By time election day came around, my campaign team were feeling nervous – but also quietly confident.

“Because in spite of the waves of misinformation, criticism and even abuse, the facts were clear: the action we’ve taken is working.”

The mayor has made similar comments to journalists over the last year, arguing that, in conjunction with other policies like electrifying the bus fleet, his August 2023 Ulez expansion to cover all of Greater London had rendered pay per mile unnecessary.

Since the election, the mayor has reiterated his promise not to introduce pay per mile, telling the London Assembly that he will also not make any changes to Ulez emission rules – meaning that currently compliant cars will not become non-compliant.

Elsewhere in the new afterword to Breathe, Khan reveals he was sent a bullet in the mail at the height of the protests against the Ulez expansion.

The mayor and his wife Saadiya also received an “Osman warning” from the security services – they were told their lives were potentially at risk but the police did not have enough evidence to arrest the suspected offender.

He also tells readers how he was left in an “odd position” after the Labour candidate in the Uxbridge and South Ruislip by-election, Danny Beales, “disowned” his Ulez expansion policy.

After Labour’s subsequent failure to win the by-election, he was confronted by news reports containing “criticism of the policy from some friends and Labour colleagues”.

Khan writes: “It was a tough few days, and I’ll always remember those who got in contact to show support, either publicly or privately.”

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