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The early firing of the starting pistol in the race to become Labour’s candidate for London Mayor is welcome. It will provide an opportunity, sooner rather than later, to galvanise progressive opposition to the Conservative-Liberal Democrat Government intent on huge public sector cuts. And, as the mayoral contest will be over before Labour’s national leadership race, London party members will be able to choose a candidate without allegations of political interference from above.
Whoever becomes Labour’s mayoral candidate will have the party’s strong general election showing in London on which to build. The combination of high voter turnout and the hard work of local activists and candidates means Labour still has the highest number of MPs in Greater London. Labour also regained control of local government in London, winning back 10 councils and returning three borough mayors.
Labour’s share of the vote in the capital was 2 per cent higher than the Tories’ and the swing away from Labour just 2.5 per cent. London played a big part in denying David Cameron’s Conservatives an overall majority. Had voter turnout been as high in the 2008 mayoral election, some polling suggests that Ken Livingstone would probably have won. Whether people turn out in high numbers will be crucial for Labour’s success in the future.
The first big electoral test for the coalition is likely to be the 2012 London mayoral contest. Boris Johnson’s Tory administration will have presided over huge budget cuts, the real possibility of more public transport fare rises and worsening frontline services. All this will place a big strain on London’s civic society. While voters may be motivated to turn out by anger at the damage the new Government will inevitably inflict, the downside for Labour will be that councils the party now controls will be expected to implement much of the cuts programme.
The real test for Labour looking to regain the mayoralty is the challenge posed by Boris Johnson. We have come to accept that his charm, wit and bluster reach parts of the electorate most politicians can only dream of.
What he cannot hide, though, is that he has been happy to do very little as Mayor. He has pushed ahead with projects started by his predecessor, such as the cycle hire scheme and support for Crossrail. But he has done very little new that could be seen as positive for London.
He is allowing much of the city’s modern bus fleet to go to rust and waste because he doesn’t like its design. He is cutting the number of Metropolitan Police officers. And, while he bangs on about not putting up his share of the council tax, he has put up fares massively – hitting low-paid and middle-income Londoners hardest.
Labour needs a candidate who can get behind Johnson’s populist façade and expose his unbending support for the financial services sector, the contradictions and inconsistencies in his policies and win back City Hall as the first step on the road back to government.
This article was published in Tribune on the 11th of June.
June 13, 2010
Since Boris Johnson became the Mayor in 2008, the urgency of the matter of poor air quality on Londoners’ health has been highlighted in two reports. The first by the London Assembly’s Environment Committee called ” Every breath you take ” and the second released by the Parliamentary Environment Audit Committee just before the General Election was called. Both highlight the fact that the impact of pollution levels on the life expectancy of Londoners is much greater than was originally thought when the Low Emission Zone (LEZ) was set up by the previous Mayor , Ken Livingstone on February 2008. Pollution has been found to have 4 to 5 times more impact on the numbers of premature deaths in London that was earlier thought. We know it reduces everybody in the UK’s life expectancy by on average seven to eight months and can you imagine what it must be for those more directly affected.
In the meantime the Mayor has decided not to implement the third phase of the LEZ for small vans; he has proposed to roll back on the Western Extension Zone (WEZ) even though it has produced a welcome reduction on the environmental impact of cars in one of London’s major pollution hotspots and of course he has simply abolished the six monthly inspection for black cabs right at the very beginning of his tenure as Mayor.
So it’s not surprising that the UK has received a second warning over air pollution from the European Commission last week with regard to PM10. According to the latest data, the Greater London Urban area has again exceeded limits for PM10 since 2008. Therefore the Mayor must take full responsibility for the fact that London has been singled out as the only area of the UK mainland now breaching the legal standard. The Commission actually goes further, stating that: “London did not have any real plans for cleaning up the air and would not be able to reduce pollution by the time the exemption period expires in 2011.”
I put it to the Mayor at the last Mayor’s Question Time (MQT) that after two years of just consulting on his air quality strategy and no action, he is going to make us the dirty man of Europe before the Olympics in 2012.
June 9, 2010
Unfortunately this zero emission black cab is not likely to be made available till well after 2015
l welcomed the new hybrid blakc cab taxi ( zero emission ) launched in London yesterday, and call upon the Mayor to reduce the age of London’s taxi fleet by reducing his proposed upper age limit from 15 years to 10 years by 2012 in his latest draft air quality strategy. The 15 year age limit is just too high for London’s black cabs, particular if you known that the average age of a black cab is 7.5 years. Thats twice the average age. Incredibly under present regulations we still have a sole registered black cab dating back to 1986 !
It’s all very well & good bringing out the new high-tech toys, but these new taxis aren’t by themselves going to solve London’s pollution problems. We need to completely overhaul London’s taxi fleet and get the oldest vehicles off the roads with some good old-fashioned policy measures. Bring the upper age limit down & at a stroke you’ll reduce pollution and by extension respiratory illness. Such a move is already overdue – 2012 is long enough to wait for this, let alone 2015.
The Mayor’s own air quality strategy highlights the particular pollution problem caused by black cabs and yet incredibly he saw fit to abolish their six monthly road-worthiness tests. So far the Mayor’s alleged pollution reduction measures have done little to get the EU off our backs and just recently the Commission made it quite clear they are going to issue large fines to the UK as a result of London’s pollution levels.
June 8, 2010
Last week l went to one of my local tube stations, Edgware Rd on the Circle /District/ City & Hammersmith lines to see the arm-pit of the sub-surface lines that go through the station, with its pre-war signal box dating back to 1928 ( see above photo ) !
Now that it’s all going to be brought in-house, it made me wonder what has been done on the oldest part of the tube system in London between Paddington and Farringdon under the PPP contracts. It is quite extraordinary that the oldest part of the tube system – to the best of my recollection – has yet to see any works like station refurbishment, track renewal or signal replacements under the PPP or otherwise, and if the sight of the pre-war signal box at Edgware Road station is anything to go by, it could do with some urgent works. No wonder we have such delays at this important junction in the tube system, with knock on effects on the rest of the system.
This week I was able to bring up the Circle line and the signal box at Edgware Road at the London Assembly’s Transport Committee meeting on Wednesday with Mike Brown, the new Managing Director of London Underground. He was happy for it to be raised, though he didn’t acknowledge the problems the service has had since being extended to Hammersmith. He has already said that once the PPP comes completely in-house at the end of June he wants to look at the possibility of doing works during weekdays, dropping the boundaries between work done under the different PPP contracts and re-ordering the work sequences between the different lines. Let’s hope he looks at the oldest section of the tube system again, in light of the state of technology along it.
May 27, 2010
Last night we held a reception for the Bangladesh cricket team in the City of Westminster at Council House on Marylebone Road, the Monday before the 5 day test match against England at Lords starting on this coming Thursday the 27th of May. This reception was well attended by youngest in the local Bangladeshi community, who were meeting their star cricketers for the first time. The reception occurred on the same day that the new Prime Minister, David Cameron gave the England team a reception at Downing Street.
Below you will see a photo of Karen Buck MP, the local member of parliament for Lords cricket ground welcoming the Bangladesh cricket team to Westminster. The High Commissioner of Bangladesh, Dr Sayeedur Rahman Khan is on my right side and he also greeted the team.
The event was organised by the Bangladesh High Commission, in conjunction with councillors at the City of Westminster Council, in particular Cllr Barrie Taylor.
Greetings from Karen Buck MP to Bangladesh cricket team
May 25, 2010
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