Andy Burnham accused of ‘lies and deflection’ over Clean Air Zone

Andy Burnham has been accused of ‘lies and deflection’ after claiming on the radio that he did not call for Clean Air Zone charges before becoming mayor.

During his campaign to become the mayor of Greater Manchester in 2017, Mr Burnham demanded powers from the government to create a Clean Air Zone. However, Mr Burnham now claims he was calling for a non-charging scheme.

The controversial scheme, which was set to come into force in May, is currently under review with local leaders now calling for no vehicles to be charged at all.

It comes after the government agreed to pause the plans to charge the most highly polluting vans, lorries, buses and taxis following a huge public backlash.

Mr Burnham said supply chain issues caused by Covid increased the price of vehicles so much that drivers could not afford upgrading to cleaner models.

Responding to criticism from a caller on BBC Radio Manchester on Thursday (1 December), he said that the scheme was never intended to raise revenue.

But the caller, Chris from Salford, accused the mayor of ‘obfuscating’ and trying to talk over him because he does not want to ‘listen to the truth’.

He said: “All you ever do is constantly deflect and say it’s nothing to do with you.

“You said [the Clean Air Zone] was nothing to do with you, it was the councils. It was your baby from the start.

“For you to turn around and say the ball is in the government’s court, it’s just more… I’m sorry to use the word, but it’s lies and deflection.”

Mr Burnham said that before becoming mayor, he called for cycling and walking infrastructure to be prioritised and for air quality to be monitored.

But he said the government ‘forced’ Greater Manchester into a deal in which charges would be imposed with insufficient funding for vehicle upgrades.

He said local authorities, which were instructed to improve air quality, did not plan to ‘raise a penny’ from the charges imposed on non-compliant vehicles.

The Labour mayor said he has no objection to a Clean Air Zone, as long as it does not involve charging drivers and helps them to upgrade their vehicles.

He said: “I don’t tell lies, I don’t deflect from questions.

“When I stood for election in 2017, I did say let’s have a big initiative to clean up the air, and yes that can be a Clean Air Zone, but it comes in many forms.”

Greater Manchester has been waiting for the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs to respond to a revised proposal submitted on 1 July.

Joseph Timan, Local Democracy Reporter