The Labour Party’s Sadiq Khan, is searching for a 3rd time period as he runs towards 12 different candidates for the Mayor of London. File photograph
Voters in England and Wales are going to the polls on Thursday, May 2, to elect quite a lot of native authorities officers, however the most-watched race is in London, the place the incumbent mayor, the Labour Party’s Sadiq Khan, is searching for a 3rd time period as he runs towards 12 different candidates.
The three different contenders dominating the air waves are Conservative candidate Susan Hall, Liberal Democrat (Lib Dem) Rob Blackie and the Green Party’s Zoë Garbett. Also working is unbiased candidate, Delhi-born Tarun Ghulati.
Crime and security have been prime of the checklist for voters as has the associated matter of confidence within the Met (Metropolitan Police). On Tuesday a sword-wielding man killed a 14 yr previous youngster and injured a number of different folks in London, the place blade associated crimes are excessive relative to different cities. The price of dwelling, particularly because it impacts housing and transport prices is one other essential manifesto subject for candidates.
Mr. Khan’s primary pledge is free main faculty meals. He launched these initially of the 2023 faculty yr as an emergency measure to assist mother and father with the price of dwelling disaster. He is now proposing making the scheme everlasting. He has additionally pledged to extend policing and is in competitors with Ms. Hall over what number of new police affords they are going to deploy.
The incumbent’s different priorities embrace inexpensive housing and transport – however with Londoners reeling from greater prices of dwelling than when he assumed workplace, Mr. Khan has the added process of defending his document up to now. A YouGov ballot report launched on Wednesday stated 47% of potential voters deliberate to vote for Mr. Khan whereas 25% deliberate to vote for Ms Hall (1,192 adults surveyed between April 24-30). Nevertheless, respondents had been break up on his document up to now, with 41% approving and 46% saying he has completed a foul job.
One of the messages of the Khan marketing campaign has been that he’ll be capable of obtain far more than in the previous couple of years if there’s a Labour Chancelor of the Exchequer and authorities following the U.Ok.’s common election later this yr.
Ms. Hall, a London Assembly member, has stated that she’s going to enhance the variety of law enforcement officials and introduce Borough-based policing to sort out crime (i.e., extra localised police forces). She has additionally stated she’s going to finish the expanded Ultra Low Emissions Zone (ULEZ) on day 1. The expanded zone, which imposes congestion costs on sure autos, was created by Mr. Khan in August final yr. The mayor has defended the growth of the zone and has linked it to raised well being and environmental outcomes for Londoners.
Ms. Hall has beforehand courted controversy for her feedback on crime within the black neighborhood and for her social media fashion – the place she ‘liked’ racist posts, together with some involving Mr Khan, who’s Muslim.
Reforming the Met is the primary precedence for the Lib Dem candidate, Mr Blackie, who was the sufferer of a violent mugging some years in the past. “One night I was attacked while walking home from work. My neck was broken, and I was lucky to live,” he stated on his marketing campaign web page.
Ms. Garbett, who reminds voters repeatedly that she is a house renter (and never proprietor), is targeted on transport fare reform and lease management and regulation within the metropolis.
Source: www.thehindu.com
