The Links Between the ULEZ Protests, Radical Anti-Vaxxers and the Far Right

Sadiq Khan has come under criticism for suggesting that protests against his plans to impose an Ultra Low Emission Zone across all of London are being mobilised by the far-right and anti-vaxxers.

However, an investigation by Byline Times gives some credence to his claims.

The heavily-publicised anti-ULEZ protests that took place outside Downing Street on 29 August were organised by a group called Action Against UEZ Extension (AAUE). Leaflets for their protest read “Stand against the Great betrayal, the fight goes on 12 noon onwards” while their placards carried messages including: “RIP London, blood on your hands Khan” and “Stop the toxic air lie”. Our investigation reveals ties between this group and the anti-lockdown Together Declaration and the anti-vax HART group. In recent months these groups, and other linked organisations, have gradually transitioned to opposing Net Zero and measures to reduce air pollution.

AAUE’s website consists of a single anonymous page with a sign up to a mailing list and a link to a Facebook group. The group has just under 38,000 members and carries the hashtag #TogetherWeAreStronger, which is used by the Together Declaration, a group initially set up to oppose mask and vaccine mandates in 2021. On 29 August members of the group were keeping track of which ULEZ camera’s had been vandalised while also identifying which ones were still in use. Members praised the “blade runners” responsible for this criminal damage. One member Mike Foster posted “Please when posting photos of signs and cameras taken out of action please do not state location, TFL probably have people monitoring this site”.

AAUE’s fellow campaigning organisation is the Stop ULEZ Coalition (SUC). SUC’s website also consists of a single page with a declaration, a mailing list sign up and a list of 70 members of the coalition. A considerable number of these names either hold positions in the Together Declaration or have campaigned alongside them on issues relating to COVID, such as GB News regulars James Melville and Tonia Buxton.

While Together give the appearance of merely supporting the protests by sending out four emails in the week leading up to the ULEZ expansion to their supporters with a call to action to take part or support the Downing Street protest, it appears they may be taking more of a leading role in actually organising the protests, as pictures of previous AAUE events have Together’s banner covering the centre of the stage with AAUE’s own banners to the side. Several names on the SUC list have omitted their positions with Together despite being directors of the organisation.

The Together Declaration was formed in August 2021 to “push back against the rapidly growing infringements to our rights and freedoms” with a focus on opposing COVID mandates and children being offered the covid vaccine. Directors include Alan Miller who was also a partner of Clare Fox’s Battle of Ideas, Francis Hoar, the lawyer who represented Keep Britain Free’s legal challenge against the first lockdown, Anna Rayner of HART and Steve James the doctor who was filmed questioning Sajid Javid about vaccine deaths. The executive team includes HART members Renee Hoenderkamp and Tony Hinton and Molly Kinglsey, founder of Us For Them who campaigned against all covid measures for children including vaccination. Together offers different levels of membership from £5 a month up to £799 a year.

In late 2022 Together held a ticketed evening event titled “Is a Great Reset inevitable?” The introduction by Alan Miller began by suggesting the removal of Liz Truss as Prime Minister was part of a globalist agenda “Why should we let markets dictate? Rishi is the revenge of the globalist agenda” before going on to describe “Brown, Blaire, Starmer, Trudeau, Macron and Ardern” as “serving the globalist agenda”.

The first speaker was Frank Furedi of Spiked Online who said the market should have been ignored as he called out “collaborators in politics” and said he was “grateful” for “conflict and friction” breaking down the global order, before describing the Bill Gates foundation as one of the worst “sinister organisations”. Another speaker Nick Hudson, founder of covid disinformation group Pandata described the World Economic Forum (WEF) as the “key world centre for fascism” engaging in “media domination, take climate change where they claim one simple molecule is responsible for so much harm”.

The event finished with a discussion on how to draw people to the cause with one speaker suggesting “don’t start with the Great Reset… because you’re just gonna alienate people, do stuff like Net Zero” suggesting to start with complaining about energy bills then “you may find them more amenable to broader arguments that there are problems with Net Zero and Ukraine”.

 Together’s website front page campaigns against ULEZ with a link to the SUC site. Together have also launched a “Free Our Streets (FOS)” initiative to organise local action against Low Traffic Neighbourhoods (LTNs), “so called 15 minute cities” and other restrictions. For various areas they list immediate actions to take, local groups to connect with and background information. Four FOS members are on the SUC list. 

Other names on the SUC list include Ed Gregory, who is seeking judicial review of ULEZ, and is represented by Robin Tilbrook’s law firm. Tilbrook is chair of the far-right English Democrats party and is involved in the Workers of England Union (WEU) that been promoted by the likes of Toby Young and Clare Fox.

Other figures on the list include the former Conservative London Mayoral candidate Shaun Bailey, Lawrence Fox, GB News presenter and leader of the “anti-woke” Reclaim Party, Howard Cox, Fair Fuel and the Reform candidate for London Mayor, Teck Khong, who is leader of the ADF Party an appeared at an anti-vax rally in August alongside former Conservative MP Andrew Bridgen and Mohammad Iqbal Adil, who is founder of the anti-vax group World Doctors Alliance who had his right to practise as a doctor suspended by the General Medical Council due to spreading COVID disinformation. 

You can read the full list below: