In less than a month Londoners will be voting for which person they would like to be the next Mayor of London. Who you vote for could essential in deciding which direction the world’s greatest City takes in the coming four years.
In 2012 Boris defeated Ken Livingstone by 62,000 votes; a tiny fraction of London’s eight million population, and only 2.8% of the 2.2 million Londoners who voted that year.
There are 600,000 British Indians living in London; if every one of them votes on May 5th then we could very well decide the election.
London has been my home City for 45 years. I’ve seen it go through some bad times, but in the past eight years London has gone from strength to strength.
From the brilliant Olympics in 2012 that showcased our City to the world to the prospering tech start-up sector in East London. And from the continued strength of the City of London to the improved transport network, our City has taken huge strides under Boris’s leadership.
But that doesn’t mean there isn’t more to do; we cannot afford for the investment in TfL’s system to dry up, and we have to take real actions to tackle housing shortages in London. And the man who is best placed to take our City forward is my good friend Zac Goldsmith.
Last year Zac and I visited a number of Temples and events within the British Indian community, and he was blown away by the greetings he received. He frequently spoke about the values his Jewish family had instilled in him, and how he sees similar values in the British Indian community.
Zac received a lot of criticism recently for some letters to British Indians living in London, but he was determined to reach as many voters as possible during this election, and the issues that were raised in the letters were those mentioned to him last summer. They weren’t intended to patronise or offend; they were him responding to things he’d been asked to do.
Zac is a man of tremendous integrity. His record as a Member of Parliament shows he’ll only do something if it is in line with his principles and it’s the right thing for his constituents. That’s the kind of man we need leading London; independent-minded, principled and with a clear vision for our City.
We need a mayor who is committed to funding our transport network as Zac has done; unlike his Labour opponent whose plan to freeze fares will leave a £1.9 billion scar in our transport system.
We need a mayor who will deal with the housing crisis in London by using brownfield sites but who will also protect our green spaces. Too many young people can’t get on the housing ladder at the moment and Zac wants to change that, but he also doesn’t want to make our City less desirable to live in.
But we also need a mayor who can keep costs under control, keep council tax down and who can stand up to the Unions. Ken Livingstone, Jeremy Corbyn and Sadiq Khan are peas from the same Islington-grown pod; unfunded spending commitments, high taxes and giving carte blanche to the Unions.
The next London Mayor will be in charge of a £600 billion economy, a 32,000 strong police force, and a transport system that handles 24 million journeys every single day. I hope the 600,000 strong British Indian community in London makes their voice heard on the 5th May, and support Zac Goldsmith.
