ULEZ expansion legal, High Court rules
The expansion of ultra-low emission zone (ULEZ) to outer London boroughs has been ruled lawful by the High Court.
Five Conservative-run councils had launched legal action back in February over the expansion.
The scheme will come into force from 29 August and see the drivers of the most polluting vehicles charged £12.50 a day to use them.
The hope of those behind the plan is it will incentivise people to use cleaner transport alternatives and, as a result, help improve the city’s air quality.
Transport for London has claimed only a small number of people will be impacted, with nine out of 10 vehicles compliant with ULEZ requirements.
But the councils challenged the rollout in the courts, saying the capital’s Labour mayor, Sadiq Khan, had exceeded his legal powers with such a large expansion of the scheme.
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
ULEZ expansion ‘difficult but right decision’
The five local authorities – Hillingdon, Bexley, Bromley and Harrow in London, plus Surrey County Council – also claimed the consultation on the plan was flawed, and not enough information had been shared over the scrappage scheme, which provides payouts to people prepared to ditch their vehicles.
While other parts of the challenge were dismissed in April, the councils were granted a hearing in the High Court, and the two sides fought it out over two days of evidence.
Chancellor to give evidence at Infected Blood Inquiry – politics latest
The ruling comes a week after the debate around ULEZ dominated a local by-election and the fallout from the results.
The seat of Uxbridge and South Ruislip – left vacant by the departure of Boris Johnson – seemed ripe for the taking for Labour in light of recent polling that gives the party a double digit lead over the Tories.
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
‘ULEZ is why we lost in Uxbridge’
But the Conservative candidate managed a narrow victory – albeit seeing the majority for the party fall from over 7,000 to less than 500 – having turned its campaign into a referendum on ULEZ.
Since then, Labour have been in turmoil over the policy and whether to support it, with Sir Keir Starmer saying he had asked the mayor to “reflect” on the impact of the scheme.
However, Mr Khan has said he is committed to ULEZ expansion, telling Sky News: “It was a difficult decision to take. But just like nobody will accept drinking dirty water, why accept dirty air?”
‘The right decision’
Following the ruling, Mr Khan told Sky News: “This landmark decision today is good news for London, because it means from the end of August we can make greater progress in cleaning up the air in outer London.
“The decision to expand ULEZ was a difficult one for me to take, it wasn’t taken lightly, but it’s essential we make more progress cleaning up the air in our city.
“Every year in our city, there’s around 4,000 premature deaths directly linked with air pollution and children with stunted lungs forever.”
Referencing the opposition to the scheme and the debate surrounding it, Mr Khan said: “I have been listening and I will carry on listening” but added that the High Court ruling was “quite clear”.
He went on to say that the 10 boroughs with the highest number of premature deaths are all in outer London.
Asked if ULEZ was the reason Labour failed to win the Uxbridge by-election last week, Mr Khan said: “The decision to expand ULEZ was a very difficult decision for me to make.
“It wasn’t one I took lightly, but it was the right one.”
Last month, the Greater London Authority commissioned a report by air quality and climate change consultants Aether into pollution levels in London.
It found that while progress had been made to reduce air pollution concentrations since 2016, the city’s population was still forecast to remain exposed to nitrogen dioxide and particulate matter in concentrations above the air quality guidelines recommended by the World Health Organisation (WHO) in 2030 “unless further significant action is taken to reduce concentrations”.
Sadiq Khan will be breathing a sigh of relief
After a bumpy week for the Mayor’s ULEZ expansion, this is very good news for Sadiq Khan.
If this legal challenge had succeeded, it could have meant a delay to next month’s rollout as elements of the consultation process were run again.
But whilst this legal hurdle has been cleared, political ones remain.
Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer has made it clear that he wants there to be a rethink– after the expansion plan cost his party the Uxbridge by-election last week.
The London Mayor has said he’s open to ideas to help people impacted by the charge but is determined to plough on with the central policy on the current timetable.
That opens a rift between party headquarters and one of the most senior elected Labour politicians in the country.
A compromise could involve the scrappage scheme being bolstered further but that would likely come with more requests for cash from Central government.
The Tories will attempt to turn next spring’s London mayoral elections into a referendum on ULEZ expansion.
The hope in City Hall will be that by forcing this controversial policy through now without delay, tempers may have cooled by the time Londoners head to the ballot box.
It also found the most deprived communities of London still more commonly live in the most polluted areas and that the areas that had the lowest air pollution concentrations had a disproportionately white population.
“The exposure inequalities experienced between ethnic groups are much more pronounced in outer London than inner London,” the consultants found.
But Steve Tuckwell, the Conservative MP for Uxbridge and South Ruislip who campaigned against ULEZ expansion during the by-election, said constituents had sent a “clear message” to the mayor to “halt your ULEZ expansion”.
“Londoners cannot go on being ignored by the Labour Party, who are making the choice to expand ULEZ, saddling families and businesses with a £4,500 a year charge – a tax on carers, parents, patients, sole traders and all hard-working Londoners,” he said.
Read more:
What are the Conservatives’ green policies – and what could be scrapped?
ULEZ: Starmer ‘wobbling’ on ULEZ, says mother of girl who died due to pollution
His words were echoed by Susan Hall, the Conservative candidate who will take on Mr Khan at next year’s mayoral election, who said: “While it is a shame the High Court did not find the ULEZ expansion to be unlawful, there is no denying that Sadiq Khan’s plans will have a devastating impact on families and businesses across the city.
“If I am elected mayor, I will stop the ULEZ expansion on day one and set up a £50m pollution hotspots fund to tackle the issue where it is, instead of taxing people where it isn’t.”
As well as putting pressure on Mr Khan, the ULEZ policy also prompted a debate within the Tory Party and emboldened the more climate sceptic wing of the party, who want Rishi Sunak to slow down the transition to net zero.
Downing Street has confirmed ministers are scrutinising existing pledges “in light of some of the cost of living challenges”, with Mr Sunak saying some green measures must be “proportionate and pragmatic” instead of adding cost and “hassle” to households.
European Union regulators are reportedly mulling a $1 billion fine against Elon Musk’s X, taking into account revenue from his other ventures, including Tesla and SpaceX, according to The New York Times.
EU regulators allege that X has violated the Digital Services Act and will use a section of the act to calculate a fine based on revenue that includes other companies Musk controls, according to an April 3 report by the newspaper, which cited four people with knowledge of the plan.
Under the Digital Services Act, which came into law in October 2022 to police social media companies and “prevent illegal and harmful activities online,” companies can be fined up to 6% of global revenue for violations.
A spokesman for the European Commission, the bloc’s executive branch, declined to comment on this case to The New York Times but did say it would “continue to enforce our laws fairly and without discrimination toward all companies operating in the EU.”
In a statement, X’s Global Government Affairs team said that if the reports about the EU’s plans are accurate, it “represents an unprecedented act of political censorship and an attack on free speech.”
“X has gone above and beyond to comply with the EU’s Digital Services Act, and we will use every option at our disposal to defend our business, keep our users safe, and protect freedom of speech in Europe,” X’s global government affairs team said.
Source: Global Government Affairs
Along with the fine, the EU regulators could reportedly demand product changes at X, with the full scope of any penalties to be announced in the coming months.
Still, a settlement could be reached if the social media platform agrees to changes that satisfy regulators, according to the Times.
One of the officials who spoke to the Times also said that X is facing a second investigation alleging the platform’s approach to policing user-generated content has made it a hub of illegal hate speech and disinformation, which could result in more penalties.
X EU investigation ongoing since 2023
The EU investigation began in 2023. A preliminary ruling in July 2024 found X had violated the Digital Services Act by refusing to provide data to outside researchers, provide adequate transparency about advertisers, or verify the authenticity of users who have a verified account.
Related: Musk says he found ‘magic money computers’ printing money ‘out of thin air’
X responded to the ruling with hundreds of points of dispute, and Musk said at the time he was offered a deal, alleging that EU regulators told him if he secretly suppressed certain content, X would escape fines.
Thierry Breton, the former EU commissioner for internal market, said in a July 12 X post in 2024 that there was no secret deal and that X’s team had asked for the “Commission to explain the process for settlement and to clarify our concerns,” and its response was in line with “established regulatory procedures.”
Musk replied he was looking “forward to a very public battle in court so that the people of Europe can know the truth.”
Source: Thierry Breton
Magazine: XRP win leaves Ripple a ‘bad actor’ with no crypto legal precedent set
US crypto exchange Coinbase has filed with the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) to launch futures contracts for Ripple’s XRP token.
“We’re excited to announce that Coinbase Derivatives has filed with the CFTC to self-certify XRP futures — bringing a regulated, capital-efficient way to gain exposure to one of the most liquid digital assets,” stated Coinbase Institutional on April 3.
The firm added that it anticipates the contract going live on April 21.
According to the certification filing, the XRP (XRP) futures contract will be a monthly cash-settled and margined contract trading under the symbol XRL.
The contract tracks XRP’s price and is settled in US dollars. Each contract represents 10,000 XRP, currently worth about $20,000 at $2 per token.
Contracts can be traded for the current month and two months ahead, and trading will be paused as a safety measure if spot XRP prices move more than 10% in an hour.
“The exchange has spoken with FCMs (Futures Commission Merchants) and market participants who support the decision to launch a XRP contract,” the firm stated.
Coinbase is not the first to launch XRP futures in the United States. In March, Chicago-based crypto exchange Bitnomial announced the launch of the “first-ever CFTC-regulated XRP futures in the US.”
XRP futures trading is available on many of the world’s leading centralized crypto exchanges, such as Binance, OKX, Bybit and BitMEX.
Funding rates remain negative
In late March, Cointelegraph reported that XRP derivatives’ funding rates had flipped negative as investor sentiment turned bearish.
Related: XRP funding rate flips negative — Will smart traders flip long or short?
Funding rates are periodic payments between traders in perpetual futures markets that help keep the futures price aligned with the spot price. Positive funding rates mean that long traders (buyers) pay short traders, while negative funding rates mean short traders (sellers) pay long traders.
When funding rates go negative, it means short traders are willing to pay a premium to maintain their positions, indicating strong conviction from bearish derivatives traders.
XRP funding rates remained negative on major derivatives exchanges as of April 4, according to CoinGlass.
XRP OI-weighted funding rates. Source: CoinGlass
Magazine: XRP win leaves Ripple a ‘bad actor’ with no crypto legal precedent set
Former Binance CEO Changpeng “CZ” Zhao will begin advising the Kyrgyz Republic on blockchain and crypto-related regulation and tech after signing a memorandum of understanding with the country’s foreign investment agency.
“I officially and unofficially advise a few governments on their crypto regulatory frameworks and blockchain solutions for gov efficiency, expanding blockchain to more than trading,” the crypto entrepreneur said in an April 3 X post, adding that he finds this work “extremely meaningful.”
His comments came in response to an earlier X post from Kyrgyzstan President Sadyr Zhaparov announcing that Kyrgyzstan’s National Investment Agency (NIA) had signed a memorandum with CZ to provide technical expertise and consulting services for the Central Asian country.
The NIA is responsible for promoting foreign investments and assisting international companies in identifying business opportunities within the country.
Source: Changpeng Zhao
“This cooperation marks an important step towards strengthening technological infrastructure, implementing innovative solutions, and preparing highly qualified specialists in blockchain technologies, virtual asset management, and cybersecurity,” Zhaparov said.
The Kyrgyzstan president added: “such initiatives are crucial for the sustainable growth of the economy and the security of virtual assets, ultimately generating new opportunities for businesses and society as a whole.”
Kyrgyzstan, which officially changed its name from the Republic of Kyrgyzstan to the Kyrgyz Republic in 1993, is a mountainous, land-locked country.
It is considered well-suited for crypto mining operations due to its abundant renewable energy resources, much of which is underutilized.
Over 30% of Kyrgyzstan’s total energy supply comes from hydroelectric power plants, but only 10% of the country’s potential hydropower has been developed, according to a report by the International Energy Agency.
CZ has met with several other state officials in Asia
Malaysia also recently tapped CZ for guidance on crypto-related matters, with Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim meeting him personally in January.
CZ has also met with officials in the UAE and Bitcoin-stacking country Bhutan — however, it isn’t clear what those meetings entailed.
Related: Is Bitcoin’s future in circular economies or national reserves?
CZ’s latest pursuits come a little over six months after he was released from a four-month prison sentence in the US for violating several anti-money laundering laws.
Since being released, CZ has made investments in blockchain tech, artificial intelligence and biotechnology companies.
CZ also recently donated 1,000 BNB (BNB) — worth almost $600,000 — to support earthquake relief efforts in Thailand and Myanmar after the natural disaster in late April.
Magazine: Financial nihilism in crypto is over — It’s time to dream big again
-
Sports2 years ago‘Storybook stuff’: Inside the night Bryce Harper sent the Phillies to the World Series
-
Sports12 months agoStory injured on diving stop, exits Red Sox game
-
Sports1 year agoGame 1 of WS least-watched in recorded history
-
Sports2 years agoMLB Rank 2023: Ranking baseball’s top 100 players
-
Sports4 years ago
Team Europe easily wins 4th straight Laver Cup
-
Environment2 years agoJapan and South Korea have a lot at stake in a free and open South China Sea
-
Environment2 years agoGame-changing Lectric XPedition launched as affordable electric cargo bike
-
Business3 years agoBank of England’s extraordinary response to government policy is almost unthinkable | Ed Conway