Labour’s London mayor Sadiq Khan is being accused by the Conservatives of making false statements about the expansion of the capital’s pollution charge zone for vehicles.

The Conservatives released documents which they claim prove Mr Khan and his deputy, Seb Dance, made “untrue and dishonest” comments in telling the London Assembly they had not been briefed in advance on the interim results of a consultation into extending the ultra low emission zone (Ulez).

The “internal correspondence” shows the mayor was “secretly briefed” about the findings on September 29 last year, a fortnight before he told the London Assembly “I have not seen the results”, according to the Tories.

Mr Khan’s office is accused by the Conservatives of responding to the interim results by launching a £165,000 digital marketing campaign in the final weeks of the consultation, focusing on demographics “most likely to support the Ulez expansion”.

Mr Khan’s spokesman said: “The real scandal is that toxic air leads to the deaths of thousands of Londoners every year, which is why the mayor took the difficult decision to expand the Ulez London-wide.

“The mayor made the decision after considering TfL’s (Transport for London’s) full final report on the consultation responses.

“The consultation was not a referendum. However, TfL made a number of modifications to the scheme following feedback received in the consultation.

“This included addressing cost of living concerns with a £110 million scrappage scheme for low-income Londoners and extending the exemptions for disabled Londoners.

“TfL takes its responsibility to run robust and legally compliant consultations extremely seriously, with an independent consultancy putting together the final analysis and report, and any suggestion that TfL or the mayor has sought to influence the results of the Ulez consultation is simply untrue.

“As part of a rigorous consultation process, it was right for TfL to seek responses from as wide a range of Londoners as possible, including young Londoners – whose lives will be affected by air pollution for years to come.”

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