Tory mayoral candidate under fire for using fake City Hall logo on campaign leaflets
The Conservative party’s candidate for London mayor has drawn sharp criticism for using fake City Hall coats of arms on campaign letters sent out to voters.
The letters from Shaun Bailey were branded with messages saying “Do not ignore”, alongside fake City Hall insignia with a cod Latin motto underneath.
They also warned Londoners their taxes would rise “if you do not take action”, while failing to explicitly mention the Conservative party.
Bailey came under fire for using similar tactics last month, when he published a “facts” leaflet about a potential bailout for Transport for London (TfL).
The Tory mayor candidate also launched a Transport for London Bailout Facts website, which claimed to offer potential voters “everything you need to know about TfL’s second bailout”.
Only at the very bottom of the page did the site state that it was “published by Kerry Halfpenny on behalf of Shaun Bailey”, before listing the address of the Conservative campaign’s London headquarters.
Will Moy, chief executive of Full Fact, an independent factchecking charity, said: “It is inappropriate and misleading for a candidate for mayor of London to brand campaign material as coming from City Hall.
“Self-respecting politicians should make their arguments in their own names.”
Wes Streeting, Labour MP for Ilford North, said: “The Tory mayoral candidate is now making a regular habit of deliberately lying to Londoners and spreading fake news.”
“The numbers the Tory candidate is using are a complete fantasy — simply designed to scare Londoners at a time when many are facing financial hardship because of the pandemic,” he added.
A spokesperson for Bailey’s campaign told City A.M: “Londoners have a right to know the full facts. And the fact is Sadiq Khan’s planning to hike his share of council tax.
“If the mayor of London is annoyed about being exposed, he can only imagine how annoyed Londoners will be when they’re forced to cover the costs of his mismanagement.”
Bailey will face incumbent Sadiq Khan in the London mayoral vote in May 2021, which was pushed back a year due to the pandemic.
Khan last month secured a £1.8bn bailout for TfL, after the coronavirus crisis caused revenue at the capital’s transport network to dry up amid a collapse in passenger numbers.
Despite fears that a fresh rescue package would come with stringent demands, the London mayor rejected several of the government’s more controversial conditions.
Those included much-maligned plans to extend the Congestion Charge zone, as well as scrapping all concessionary travel and hiking fares ahead of the rate of inflation.
Khan held a 21-point lead in a poll last month by the Mile End Institute at Queen Mary University of London and YouGov, which said Khan would be reelected with a 51 per cent win in the first round of voting.