Vindication or cowardice? Andy Burnham's clean air gamble in Manchester

After the Ulez debate, some see the Greater Manchester mayor's U-turn on introducing his own 'Caz' zone as a politician reading the room, while others see it as a climbdownVindicated. That is how Andy Burnham felt in the aftermath of the Uxbridge byelection, when Labour's narrow defeat was blamed on the determination of his London counterpart to extend the capital's ultra low emission zone (Ulez).Burnham, the mayor of Greater Manchester, had pressed "pause" in February 2022 on the introduction of a clean air zone (Caz) after initially supporting it, then changing his mind. Continue reading...