World’s best city can’t have four more years of its worst-ever mayor
SADIQ KHAN stands on the brink of four more years of power as London’s mayor.
Four more years of violent muggings and mothers in mourning for children lost to knife attacks.
Four more years of sky-rocketing rents and a dearth of affordable homes. Four more years of taxpayers’ money sunk into Khan’s vanity projects.
The election on Thursday will shape the future of our great capital. But before Londoners cast their votes, I urge them to consider Khan’s dismal track record.
Figures last week showed that knife crime in the city has mushroomed by 20 per cent in a year.
But in an LBC radio debate on Tuesday with his Conservative rival Susan Hall, Khan mocked her concern about ‘gangs running around with machetes’, quipping: ‘I think the Tory candidate should stop watching The Wire.’
The ugly wisecrack says everything about his head-in-the-sand attitude towards the issue.
As the Met’s Police and Crime Commissioner, he has the power to authorise more stop-and-search – a tactic that allows officers to carry out a search without making an arrest. But stop-and-search has almost halved during Khan’s eightyear tenure and, in turn, knife crime has risen by 53 per cent.
Lawlessness like this is not just a threat to personal safety, it also weakens London’s status as a global city and its ability to attract tourists and investors. And where will we all live? Khan’s sclerotic housing programme can build only 8,000 new homes a year, compared with the 26,000 needed.
Only 35 per cent of these are affordable in most developments, falling well short of his target of 50 per cent.
Meanwhile, Transport for London continues be a black hole of public money, sucking in ever more Government bailouts, yet Khan manages to find £6 million down the City Hall sofa to give the Overground lines a woke rebrand that no one asked for.
The status quo is not good enough. Despite expectations that he is heading for an easy victory, polls show that over half of Londoners rate his performance as ‘bad’.
This is not about whether you vote Labour, Conservative, Reform, Liberal Democrat, Green or for any other party or individual. It transcends politics, race, religion, sexual orientation or gender identity. It’s about electing the most capable candidate.
When I helped with the campaign to elect Tory candidate Shaun Bailey as mayor in 2021, it was a first and second-round voting system, but that has changed. This year it is first-past-the-post – the candidate with the most crosses against their name wins, so all anti-Khan votes count, even if you live in a Labour-run borough.
London is the greatest metropolis in the world, but it’s run by the worst-ever mayor.
It is a city in need of decisive action and genuine leadership.
As someone who loves London, I urge its citizens to get out and vote – to elect someone with the vision and determination to lead the city into a brighter future.