Zac Goldsmith: I will work hand in hand with the government to make our great city greater still
Eight years ago my friend Boris Johnson walked into City Hall. It was not a good time to win an election. The British economy was careering into the worst recession in living memory. People said London was finished as a global financial centre.
But London proved them wrong.
Eight years on and business is booming: 400,000 more people are in work, the City is stronger than ever, and we’re at the forefront of cutting edge industries like fintech and life sciences.
Yet there was nothing inevitable about any of this.
Without a Conservative government and a Conservative mayor – working together on a shared economic plan – London’s pre-eminence would have been irretrievably lost.
It was Boris who talked the Treasury into releasing the funds for Crossrail, a Conservative mayor who secured record investment in transport and regeneration, and a mayor working with the government who made significant savings at City Hall in return.
If I’m mayor I will take exactly the same approach, working hand in hand with this Conservative government to keep our economy strong.
Today that partnership has never been more vital, because London risks becoming a victim of its own success. When a station as important as Bank has to be closed once a week because of overcrowding, or a City worker on a decent wage still can’t afford to buy a home, the immense scale of the challenge becomes clear.
So what I offer as mayor is a fully-funded Action Plan for Greater London, all paid for while freezing mayoral council tax.
My Action Plan will protect transport investment, so we keep this city moving, building and growing. I am the only candidate who can make that guarantee. My opponent’s reckless fares pledge, costed at £1.9bn by TfL, would mean scrapping four years worth of vital upgrades. It’s a recipe for delays and overcrowding. It would grind our city to a halt.
Growing the transport network is mission critical to the second part of my Action Plan: doubling house-building to 50,000 homes a year. I’ll do it by unlocking the land we need to build and by injecting competition into the market. On my watch, London won’t become a city of empty skyscrapers dumped on reluctant communities. I will build a city rooted in streets and parks and beautiful neighbourhoods, with more homes available for Londoners on average salaries.
My opponent’s housing plan is to ask developers to build at a loss. It will mean fewer homes get built. And because he won’t protect transport investment, he won’t be able to get at the land we need for development.
But none of this is possible without a strong economy, which is why my plan commits to secure half a million new jobs for Londoners.
As mayor, I will nail down the deal to fund Crossrail 2, along with other major projects like extending the Tramlink. I’ll use the new devolved skills budget to back the most advanced sectors of our economy. I’ll support startups with more affordable office space, and by working with the boroughs to take full advantage of devolved business rates. I’ll appoint a new chief digital officer, to turn London into a data-driven city. To guide my approach throughout, I’ll set up a Business Advisory Group, with members nominated from the business community.
Only one of two candidates will be mayor, and the choice for Londoners is stark.
If you vote for Sadiq Khan, you’ll be voting with Ken Livingstone, the unions and the Socialist Workers Party, who all see victory today as the best way to protect the Corbyn project.
You’ll be voting for higher council tax, unfunded spending pledges, a transport network starved of investment, and four years of running battles with the government.
Above all, you’ll be voting for a party which now rejects the basic principle on which this city is built: that free enterprise is a force for good in the world, the best way yet devised of delivering rising living standards, wealth and innovation. This is your chance to send that party a message.
This election will go right down to the wire. Just a few thousand votes in each borough stand between my Action Plan and victory for Corbyn and Khan. Your vote will make a difference.
So between now and the close of polls, I’ll be campaigning with everything I have, because this election is crucial for London, because I love this great city of ours, and because I know I can make it greater still.