Too many priced out of London says Green hope

THE Green Party’s London mayoral contender today pledged to bring down Tube and bus fares and to extend free school meals.

At her campaign launch in Bethnal Green this morning, candidate Zoë Garbett was to warn that the capital has become “far too expensive” for “too many people”, and that Labour and the Tories have “let London down”.

She was expected to say: “As a councillor in Hackney, I know how unaffordable this city has become. As a renter, I know how insecure it can feel.

“Low-paid work forces people to skip meals, and schools are closing because families can’t afford to live here. We have to do better — and we can.”

Ms Garbett has promised that if elected, she would extend free bus travel to under 22s, and to asylum seekers, as well as reinstating free pre-9am travel for Freedom Pass and 60+ Oyster card holders.

The Greens have increased their vote share at every election since the mayoralty’s creation in 2000. In 2012’s contest, they overtook the Liberal

Democrats to come third — a position they have retained ever since.

It came as Sadiq Khan today launched a new TfL hate crime taskforce that will “bear down hard” on antisemitism and Islamophobia across London’s transport network. The unit will also help police crack down on violence against women and girls, City Hall said.

TfL’s most recent data shows crime on the Tube soared by almost 40 per cent on pre-pandemic levels.

Conservative London mayor candidate Susan Hall said the taskforce was “wholly inadequate for the scale of the problem” and accused her Labour rival of rushing it together before the May 2 election.

It comes as the Tory party was under fire for using footage from a stampede at a New York subway station in a sinister attack ad on Mr Khan. The video suggested it was taken in London.