I am standing to be Labour’s candidate for Mayor of London to champion both the devolution of powers to London, and the devolution of powers to Londoners.
I think we are heading towards a more federal Britain and that London should be part of that journey. We create a quarter of the UK’s wealth – much of which is redistributed, and that is right. But in return, London should have more of the powers we need to tackle the big challenges our city faces: the housing crisis; stubbornly high levels of child poverty; and the need for more investment in public transport.
We cannot expect to build all the homes Londoners need, to tackle poverty and inequality, or properly invest in our trains, buses and airports without having more power to control our own resources. As Mayor, I want to change this.
As a start, London should have control over the property taxes paid in our city, so that we can use a little more of the wealth generated in our city to help tackle the challenges we face. London’s Mayor should have new powers to enforce a living wage and rent controls, and we should have the ability to control our skills and training budgets.
But I also want power to be devolved to Londoners. We should allow Londoners to join Transport for London, to be able to attend AGMs and to hold senior management much more to account. We should build more co-op housing, giving tenants a greater say over the communities they live in. And we should champion solar energy co-operatives to boost alternative energy sources to power our capital.
But if Labour is to win back the Mayoralty, we need to do much better in Outer London. As the MP for Harrow West, I am the only Labour candidate from Outer London.
Commuters in areas like Southall, Hillingdon and Croydon have been hardest hit by the increases in fares we’ve seen under Boris Johnson. On day one of my Mayoralty I would cut tube, train and bus fares by 10%, and freeze them for the next three years – a cut of almost 20% in real terms by 2020.
Labour lost the last election because too many did not believe we were credible on managing the economy and felt we weren’t really in favour of wealth creation. We need to change this.
I believe it is time for Labour to re-embrace the City of London. The banks have already faced considerable and deserved criticism – and will face some more – but financial services remain the bedrock of London’s economy and a world class industry within London.
With HSBC and JP Morgan looking to relocate outside the UK, it’s not enough just to be angry with the City’s excesses; we need to find ways to engage those who work in our financial institutions so that they work much more in the way we would like them to – to benefit all of society.
But there will be no more powerful test of whether we have changed as a party than whether Labour’s candidate is willing to support a third runway at Heathrow.
I am the only candidate unequivocal in my support for private investment in both Heathrow and Gatwick. London cannot afford to turn its back on the economic opportunities and jobs that airport expansion would bring. A third runway at Heathrow alone would create 40,000 new jobs, and 10,000 apprenticeships for young people looking to fulfil their ambitions.
Businesses are already losing out on an estimated £15bn of trade each year because of the lack of cargo capacity, and other airports in Amsterdam, Paris and Frankfurt are already better placed to respond to the increased demand to travel to emerging markets. I have spoken to a number of Indian businessman who support a third runway at Heathrow as it could provide flights to 40 new long-haul destinations such as Ahmedabad.
As Mayor, I would also set up a small business bank to help our newest entrepreneurs access the finance they need to start to grow the businesses of our future.
London should also be bidding to be the European Capital of Culture in 2023, and to host the Commonwealth Games in 2026. A future Mayor needs to champion bringing major international sporting and cultural events to London to help promote the capital in the future, but we need to make sure that those in Outer London boroughs benefit too. How about the Tate Harrow or the Tate Croydon? And why not use our world class sports facilities such as Wembley and the Olympic Stadium to inspire the next generation of London’s athletes and sports stars.
We cannot be complacent about London’s future prosperity. Labour’s candidate for Mayor must be ambitious, and take bold and decisive action to secure our city’s future.
