The mayoral debate: Boris and Ken issue their final message to voters
THIS election comes when we have been going through the toughest times that anyone can remember. The big question is therefore blindingly simple. It is about who has the best plan for the jobs and growth that will help bring prosperity to all. It is about who will deliver the investment – from central government – that will take London forward. It is about who you can trust to spend that money wisely – and who will be honest with you about where the money is coming from, and how it is spent.
I believe my nine point plan is right for the future of the greatest city on earth. My ambition is to make London ever safer, greener, cleaner and more attractive to live in and invest in. Across London, from Ealing to Stratford, from Vauxhall to Brent Cross, there are new growth areas, with astonishing scope for top-quality development. Croydon and Tottenham – two of the areas worst hit by last year’s riots – are both on the verge of exciting regeneration schemes. International investors are already queuing up to stake their claim – and I will make sure the world knows what London has to offer.
If you add together the transport, housing and regeneration programmes that are already funded, we will create 200,000 jobs over the next four years. I want Londoners to be in a position to get these jobs. Too many young Londoners are coming onto the job market without the real skills and aptitude they need. That is why I will substantially expand our apprenticeship scheme. We have helped 54,000 become apprentices in a vast range of professions – and 84 per cent stay on in full-time jobs. Over the next four years, we are going to help create another 250,000 apprenticeships; and at a time of high youth unemployment I believe it is among the most important things we can do for our city.
And we will help business – especially small and medium-sized firms – to take on those potential employees. We have set up the London Growth Fund to offer low-cost loans. We will continue with our £221m programme of investment in high streets and shopping districts.
We can do all these things because we are managing our budgets responsibly. We have abandoned the grandiose and wasteful approach of the previous mayor. It is this relentless efficiency with your money that has allowed me to freeze the mayoral share of council tax for four years. Now I am promising to cut it by 10 per cent.
I believe that, in tough times, that is the right approach for London.
We simply cannot afford to go back to the waste and inefficiency of the previous regime. This city has a fantastic future. London is still the financial capital of Europe, if not the world. We also have an astonishing array of manufacturing and, in the last four years, London has seen an explosion of digital start up companies. It is the global crossroads, the entrepot that unites the Bric economies. London continues to be the artistic and cultural capital of the world, and with more top universities and medical research facilities than any other capital.
But I want all Londoners to share in that success – and that means investing now in the things that will create jobs and growth.
The choice is clear this Thursday. It is between a mayor who invests in our future – and irresponsible proposals from Ken Livingstone that would put that investment at risk. I know I am best placed to get the funds our city will need. I will use that money well – not waste it on schemes of no economic benefit to London. I want to unite London – not try to divide one group from another. I want to take London forwards – not back to the 1970s. I believe I am best placed to lead London out of recession, to get real and lasting value from the Olympics, and to lengthen our lead as the greatest city on earth.
KEN LIVINGSTONE
It’s about a Labour mayor or a Tory mayor, about Labour values or Conservative values
THIS election isn’t about two men running for office, but 8m Londoners. It’s about a Labour mayor or a Tory mayor – Labour values or Conservative ones.
Londoners will be better off with a Labour mayor. The average London commuter will save £1,000 through my lower fares plan. The Tories are hurting London. The Conservative Party’s disastrous policies have shoved us into a double-dip recession. They are mired in the scandal and incompetence of the phone-hacking scandal, showing they have put a handful of the richest ahead of everyone else.
One in ten Londoners is out of work. Young people are under attack from cuts to the Education Maintenance Allowance (EMA) and soaring student fees. People are feeling the squeeze. My key pledges aim to make Londoners better off, whereas a Conservative mayor either won’t do anything to help, or will make things worse, such as through higher fares.
A Conservative mayor means raiding commuters’ pockets with above-inflation fare rises during the hardest time people have faced in decades. It means broken promises on everything from campaigning against A&E closures to reducing knife crime. Tube users are in despair about delays and overrunning engineering works. And a Conservative mayor means standing by silently as Londoners are hit by government actions on cuts to tax credits, record levels of unemployment in London, and increased rail fares.
At the heart of my case for change in London is my Fare Deal pledge, to cut fares by 7 per cent this year. I will do this by 7 October, or I’ll resign. I’ll freeze them all the way through 2013 and put an end to annual above-inflation fare rises. Londoners living in the suburbs save even more than the average £1,000 saving. It will be paid for through using some of the annual profit raised every year because the fares are so high. It will not damage investment, because that budget is actually under-spent.
I will cut fares, protect existing services, and invest for the future. Labour’s London grant and loan scheme will help parents with the upfront costs of childcare. Not only will my childcare policy help London parents back into work, but we’ll work with 100 nurseries across the capital to make childcare available at the times parents need it, rather than just between 8am-6pm.
And we will tackle rents, ignored by the Conservatives. Average rent for a two-bed flat costs over half of take home pay in nearly three quarters of London boroughs. I’m pledging to introduce the first not-for-profit London-wide lettings agency to cut rents, tackle rip-off agency fees and improve standards.
The EMA acted as a lifeline to education for many young people. I will restore EMA for London, working with colleges, universities and local authorities to help teenagers stay in education.
London has lost out on over £400m of funding for home energy efficiency that could have been secured by the mayor from energy utilities’ national obligations. I’ll help London households save over £150 a year on energy bills by winning more of that cash, and will establish an energy co-op to cut the price paid for electricity and gas.
Every single Londoner deserves to feel safe and secure in their neighbourhood. But Boris Johnson has admitted cutting 1,700 police officers. I will reverse his cuts, and I will reinstate sergeants to all 600 Safer Neighbourhood Teams, more of which will be beefed up to a minimum of nine officers. The link between police numbers and crime levels is clear, and my policing pledge will make London a safer city.
Londoners have a clear choice. Voting Conservative sends a message to the party that it can carry on as it is. London needs a mayor who puts the majority first. We need a Labour mayor for that.