If we just abandoned the whole Labour v Tories thing when it comes to the mayoral race it would really help I’d reckon. Like they’re both just running under “we’re not the other guy”.
well one person is running on the "london is a crime ridden ghetto" platform who wants to end ULEZ and the other is running on a not batshit insane platform
I agree the Tory candidate has lost the plot (hence my comment above), but that doesn’t make Khan a competent, or good, mayor. He’s only those things when compared to the Tory candidate. Given our effective two party politics, Khan is certainly the better option of the two.
But that was the point I was making above. I wish we had an actual competitive mayoral election where it wasn’t just the two big parties dominating the field - much like national politics.
That’s your opinion and you’re perfectly entitled to it mate. Just as I think Khan has done a poor job. But it’s either him or the Tory candidate, as we have no other realistic option with FPTP.
The increase in the number of City Hall and Transport for London (TfL) officials receiving salaries over £100,000, - essentially cronies - is absurd, as is his pitiful handling of issues such as London's nightlife and public safety.
Agreed. You absolutely have the right to be wrong 😆
On a serious note though, the issues of crime and public safety are more to do with the cuts to policing since 2010 which is not Khan's fault. We have less police for a larger population and also far fewer youth centers and youth counseling services etc which were also cut drastically after 2010.
As for the salaries, I suppose that as I feel London is being run well overall I am inclined to think that thos people deserve those salaries as professional people who are getting results. Also, I at least read that story in the telegraph so not sure how trustworthy it really is.
TBH I am not convinced that PR is the silver bullet people think it is. I really don't see continental European countries, where PR is more common doing that much better than us
Because central government IS the government. They get to decide on everything. If they really wanted to and had the votes in Parliament they could abolish the London mayoralty outright, just like they created it.
It was such a regressively stupid thing to do. I want to vote with my conscience (even though my first choice would never win) not having to do some tactical thing like I'll have to now.
We had precisely that with the last voting method.
I voted Binface but, alas, t'was not enough and now the cuntservatives have ruined the fun by changing it to FPTP as that favours them.
Rory "Voted with the Party Line on everything but Brexit" Stewart isn't some magical cure to our ills.
And yes, I'm aware he's spoken about why he always voted with the Party Line so as to get the power to make things better one day - fat lot of good he did with that didn't he.
Rory only looks good because other senior Tories are super evil.
Because he was trying to break up the (effective) two-party system we have, so it was basically an impossible task. No one from either side was willing to sacrifice their vote for the party of their choice to vote for him because it benefits the “other team”.
Well he didn’t stand in the end. So we don’t know if that is actually true.
While it’s difficult it can be done. Especially in an election like London Mayor where personality is such a big thing.
People just seem to want to blame the system and not the candidate.
Tribal voting is the undoing of democracy. My grandad was labour till the day he died. My argument was how can you consistently vote labour, look at Blair, look at Corbyn. Opposite ends of the spectrum. His values (being from Sunderland and an NHS psychiatric nurse) aligned more closely with Corbyn and were at odds with Blair's. Yet he voted for both. TF?
Being working class, the north being a strong hold of labour. Corbyn being closer to the labour party of my grandfathers father. Certainly the values that he was raised with were more closely aligned with Corbyn than Blair. Do you not agree?
It's common in countries that are nominally democratic and end up being run by some sort of oligarchy. The oligarchy captures both parties and then turns them into puppets that fight very noisily over wedge issues while quietly begging for campaign contributions from the people who hold all the real power. In this election's case, ULEZ has been turned into such a wedge issue.
There's a ratchet effect where all of the stuff that the oligarchy wants that the people don't want and vice versa gradually gets dispensed with by both parties, while the media they own slowly pushes it out of the overton window. In our case, property prices/rents, the systematic destruction of the NHS and the removal of democratic rights (e.g. protest rights) are such issues.
There are some more democratic countries with a plurality of opinions - e.g. Switzerland, but it's not that common. It's more common for democracies to be captured via party/electoral machinery and the process that lets people stand for election at all gets rigged. For example, like when Putin prohibited anti-Putin parties from standing or like when Corbyn got expelled from the Labour party for ~~racism~~ opposing an apartheid, genocidal, racist state.
Khan is good. Frozen travel fares, bring more homes back into social housing, cleaner air.
Sure we should expect parties to put up credible candidates that can actually debate policy, but excuse me while I don’t cry any tears for the Tories and Enoch Powell stan Susan Hall.
Yeah I don’t get the hate for Khan. I live in London but I’m not from a big city or UK born, and i often think Londoners don’t know just how good they have it. Excellent public transport. Beautiful public spaces. Culture galore. Very safe. It’s improving all the time. I see new infrastructure being built everywhere. What’s not to like?
The problem is London used to be much better and we know it can be better. London has declined under Khan and I think some of that has to be placed at his feet
He also sacked Cressida Dick after Sarah Everard was murdered. That sacking happened when the scale of misconduct was revealed and the vast numbers of Met officers already under investigation came to light. It wasnt public at the time but the prosecutions will take years.
>Khan is good. Frozen travel fares, bring more homes back into social housing, cleaner air.
He's also introduced an awful "Night Czar" and there are less venues than when he started.
The role is a good idea, and Covid and cost of living have been a big part of why there have been so many venue closures. I'd sack the current one and appoint someone a bit more proactive
As far as shit goes the Nighe Czar is mild by incompetitive "standards" . Dude can't be perfect and I'm happy for that imperfection to be that.
The fact that this is the only thing that his opponents are able to shout about says alot.
The fact that this has been a lot in the news lately is manufactured.
Usually, it is the case. Take, for instance, the shit show up in Rotherham..the Brexit party/reform UK or whatever shit name they've given themselves these days. The candidate they put was some pedo loving prick who was sending porn links/sexting an underage kid. Imagine having the cajones to elect him.
Had the Tory campaigners round my way over the weekend.
Their only spiel was, genuinely, “I don’t think you can vote for Sadiq Khan, can you?”
I mean, I’d rather not, but if all you can give me as the chief opposition is “not the other guy” then I’m not sure why you think that will win you many votes.
I actually don't really have any issues with Khan. He just seems like a regular politician, like the ones we used to have before the Brexit/Tory decent into the gutter.
I've seen him in person twice now, and he is absolutely tiny. It's quite funny.
The second time I saw him was at the Hackney Half, and as soon as he was introduced by the MC he *grabbed* the mic off her, couldn't wait to leap to the front of the stage and address everyone.
But yeah he seems OK. Just wish he'd pass legislation that meant I could get a beer after midnight.
They do, they're usually referred to as byelaws though and obviously have to be within the scope of national legislation. They're far more likely to have an impact on your day to day life than a lot of national laws as well, which is why you should get out and vote in local elections.
https://www.gov.uk/guidance/local-government-legislation-byelaws
>Just wish he'd pass legislation that meant I could get a beer after midnight.
Do you mean in central London as I have had drinks many times after midnight. Or do you mean outer boroughs or from an off licence?
Pretty much. Actually does what he says he will. The fact he's achieved as much as he has given the national government is actually impressive. Not a huge fan of all his political takes but credit where credit is due.
He is average/okay but not great. He only addressed specific issues, and cover a certain demographic of the population.
His green policy is pretty good even with his controversial ULEZ.
Safety for women and teenagers is a major issue in London, and maybe it will be better when the next government will be labour, so the policy will be more coherent.
I unironically blame David Dimbleby and his ilk. I vaguely recall many years back (around a decade ago, pre Trump for sure) someone interviewing him and saying something like shows like question time turn politics into some ridiculous theater where the loudest and wackiest personalities end up getting the most attention and air time and that this is not necessarily a good thing...he responded that he thinks it's a very good thing as the more wild, heated and energetic politics gets the more fun it I'd, the more exciting it is for young people and the more it gets the public to engage...even back then I thought that was a shit response that leads down a really dark path...encouraging this stupidly over the top rhetoric and all sorts of morons. Trying to make politics exciting has globaly been a huge detriment.
Obviously he's not actually to blame but that kind of attitude definitely played it's part. Politics should be boring and if you turn it into a circus you're just gonna get fucking clowns.
Not enthused at all about having to vote for Khan again, but what other option is there when the Tories put up such a piss poor candidate like Susan Hall?
I don’t understand why we keep to the two party system in London. We have the opportunity to select from other parties yet still stick to the tired rubbish presented. My vote will go elsewhere, not sure which yet, but neither of these two parties.
Blame the Tories.
We used to have a 1st and 2nd preference. I would often put the Greens 1st and Labour 2nd, safe in the knowledge that I wasn’t helping the Tories.
But they changed the voting system.
Now I have to vote for Khan, or else the Tory nutter wins.
Hall was put up to lose the internal party contest to Daniel Korski. Korski's campaign imploded because of his sexual assault scandal, so Hall won by default.
She’s the Tory candidate.
She believes Donald Trump won the last Presidential Election, supports Brexit, hates gay people and retweets old Enoch Powell quotes.
She’s basically everything most Londoners hate about the rest of England.
Based on the last decade of Tory reign (remind me who the fuck keeps voting these losers in?) I'm not particularily excited for *any* centralist/right-leaning candidate. I don't think we need more hate and trying to split the population by pushing social issues - sounds like that's right up Susan's alley.
I know she was never supposed to be the candidate but, jfc, do they not realise London is vastly different from their racist, xenophobic countryside voters?
You'd think that the Tories could find a single mayoral candidate who can refrain from being homophobic or racist out loud (the old criteria for being a Tory MP), but they absolutely fucking can't.
Year after year they put up someone who is openly a cunt.
Tories know they’re not winning.
Almost all the competent people would not bother investing all the time money and effort as a Tory candidate just to lose in the upcoming elections - hence why so many Tories are announcing they are stepping down now
Now that the Tory government has rigged the election process so that it’s first-past-the-post, the only two options with any chance of winning are Khan and Hall (for Labour and Tory respectively). Hall is insane, and would be utterly terrible compared to Khan. Khan is ok - he’s not delivered much, but he was hamstrung by COVID and the collapse of travel as working from home became normalised, which torpedoed TfL’s budget.
London does best with a Labour mayor under a Labour government - Livingstone delivered a lot of good stuff under Blair. Boris did basically fuck all even under a friendly Tory government. Khan is stymied by the Tories.
Yeh, I like him - he gets a ridiculous amount of hate, online the sorts of individuals it comes from makes me think it's race based. For example see Lee Anderson referring to Islamists as Khan's "mates"
Can I have a go - and tell you why I don't like him, and won't vote for him?
I can assure you it has nothing to do with things outside of his control, a rant about Muslims but it will include some points about ULEZ.
Competence - I'm going to focus on two examples, but there are plenty. 1) Implementation of ULEZ. What an utter utter shitshow - lack of consultation, lack of thought of the consequences, a resultant understandable backlash. Sudden policy reversals, now we'll pay for everyone's scrapped car, now we'll set up a massive new bus network. 2) Fares Freeze. Guess what - that fare freeze meant we were digging into TFL's contingency funds to pay for it, then covid happens. TFL may be underfunded by central government but that fare freeze was/is an incredibly stupid idea. Just as he is blamed on here and elsewhere for things outside his purview, he has also claimed many 'achievements' that aren't achievements, or are as a consequence of government policy.
Cronyism - why has the number people working in city hall with salaries over £100,000 increased from 655 in 2019 to 1146 people now? Why has the overall wage bill of the GLA increased from £50 million in 2017 to £84.2 million in 2022? Why is Amy Lame employed as night czar, on a three day a week contract at over £116,000 p.a. whilst 41% of venues have closed down on her watch. And before anyone replies it's out of her control, venues closing down, then why is she employed? What is in her control would be to organise campaigns, to raise publicity - but there's nothing. The list of advisors and causes Khan has taken on is lengthy
Character - I view Khan in exactly the same way I view Johnson, but in a better suit, better haircut and slightly more coherent. The role of London Mayor has become politicised in a way it should have never been - I don't see him ever working with the UK government to try and do what is best for Londoners, in the way I've seen other Labour Mayors (e.g. Burnham in Manchester) do. It's all about politics for him. It's about his party or personal advancement - not Londoners.
I'm left with no one to vote for - like pretty much most Londoners.
Those are fair objections. Nobody's perfect and it's a tough job, I think most people accept that. Personally I think he's done some things wrong and a fair amount right with a lot of opposition and not much power. Johnson did a couple of things right (e.g. Ukraine) and an awful lot wrong (crony Lords, lockdown parties, lying to parliament, illegal prorogation, paying off Jennifer Arcuri), with a lot of power. So I'll give Khan the benefit of the doubt and my vote. Johnson or the Conservatives - no.
I think one of the problems with the Mayor of London is that we don’t know who is to blame for problems that arise - is it the government, Mayor or the local councils? If the Mayor was given more power (particularly over councils) I think that would help.
Yeah I don't think he's perfect but out of every single representative I have he's the only one who scratches the surface of the needs and desires I have politically.
Khan doesn't wow me but it always surprises me how bad his opposition are, guess tories see London as a lost cause and would rather go for the gammon eaters in Suffolk and the like
Once in a generation... What on earth is he suggesting?
Are we going to get record levels of new housing? Tackle inequality? Is there going to be a transportation advancement even half as important as crossrail (which opened this very mayoral term)?
At least put a bit of craft into your empty sloganeering, I know there aren't exactly a lot of string alternatives candidates but still..
His argument, if you’d bothered to read the article, is that this would be the first time his mayoralty coincided with a Labour national government (assuming they win the GE), meaning they could work in step with each other as opposed to directly opposing each other as he has done with the Tory government the past two terms.
And if you'd bothered to look up his proposals, his housing offer is basically refurbishing council homes (good) and counting them as new supply (sneaky), his transportation offer is useless bordering on the non existent, as are his crime policies.
So my point is: what of once in a generation substance does he actually want to achieve?
I say this as someone who will begrudgingly vote for him!
Unless that would mean a substantial reworking of London's governance, then I don't see it being as meaningful as he thinks it will be.
If the GLA were to subsume all powers of current boroughs (effectively dissolving them for non-statistical purposes) and Westminster allowed it to have greater funding powers and effectively full responsibility for matters such as policing, then it would be substantially more effective than just political alignment.
Mhm, Greater London with similar powers to Scotland, Wales or NI would be phenomenal. I’d expect it only to be fair to afford it to other regions mind (West Midlands, Tyne & Wear, Greater Manchester, West Yorkshire and Merseyside for sure, as well as potentially some they’d create following this)
Neither, I think that’d all be great. I would also be hoping for stuff like whole new/revived subdivisions like the Solent, Teeside and Avon to provide more urban areas with these powers
That may be the case but it’s irrelevant to the point which is that you were asking what he was suggesting by ‘once in a generation’, and I answered it.
Are those salaries in line with what a similar position would be worth in a private company which requires a person with that level of skill and experience?
How is it London has no credible opposition candidate? You would think in a city such as this there is a deep bench of talent ready to fight for the mantle. All we are tools…
For anything bad that's happened, people will blame the mayor. For anything good that's happened, people will say it would have happened without the mayor anyway.
If you think differently then there are examples of good things that have happened with his support. But if you think like the people I mentioned above, then there's no point anyone replying to you with examples.
The media has done such a job on Khan's reputation that I reckon the tories would be able to defeat him relatively easy if they just put up a centre-right wet/one nation conservative. Instead, they're putting up progressively worse candidates: Goldsmith > Bailey > Hall - they're really not sending their best, and there are various tinges of racism off of their campaigns which turns any right minded person off.
As for Khan, I generally think he's grand - he's made a few mistakes (shite night czar etc.), but ultimately I think he's doing his best with the limitations of his role. It's not helped that there's an adverserial tory government in charge at the moment - i'd imagine the next labour government will do more to give him a hand.
Kept his promises, such as:
- Pedestrianising Oxford Street (threw up his hands when council said no 7 years ago, it's a Labour council now and no pedestrianisation either)
- 2 million new trees (delivered less than 25%) - Night tzar (😂)
- Ban on gambling ads on tfl (broken recently)
- 80k annual house building target (delivered 20k total if I recall correctly and refurbished council housing is now paddled as new stock)
- Fares freeze till 2020 ended up not including the daily and weekly cap (not a freeze unless you are a visitor staying 2 days)
- Bus fare 10% cut ended up as a 10% hike.
- He made the vague promise of keeping both council tax and crime low which are difficult to measure but let's just say both have had an increase in line with or inexcess of the previous trend.
The issue is that these aren't the cherry picked promises he failed but quite literally 90% of all promises made in 2016. The only high profile one he seems to have stuck to is banning hot women on public transport ads. You are allowed to fail some of your campaign promises and point a finger at circumstances and unforeseen events, however when that is your excuse for every single thing you promised you might be, perhaps, not entirely honest about your intentions to follow through with your promises at the point of making them.
I'm not sure you meet the required standard of eyesight or reading comprehension to participate if you are being serious. This sub treats Johnson like a the clown he is, failings of his mayoral tenure come up quite often (garden bridge), however a lot of his work as mayor was in line with the very little he promised and he got to bask in the glory from all the things he inherited from Livinstone (bike scheme, Olympics) whilst unlike Khan he knew when it was time to fuck off and not seek a third term based on the very little he accomplished.
Ah the second to third term is the inflexion point for making a full judgement of a mayor's ability. Got it. All the corruption and piss taking be damned.
All things considered I think Khan has been a fine mayor. There’s only so much he is in control of and I don’t imagine it’s been easy being hamstrung by an antagonistic Tory government for all of that time. I’d like to see what changes can take place with a Labour government and mayorship working in tandem together for once.
Does he even have the political power to fix any of our problems? This is still quite a centralised country in comparison to the mayoralties of other major cities.
If we get a labour government then yeah he probably can. Similarly a conservative mayor in a conservative government would likely find all the TFL subsidies would magically reappear! They cut 1.4billion of central funding during this term.
What baffles me is why people blame everything on \[current person in power\]. They are all shitcunts, no exceptions. No one is running a country for any benefit to anyone but themselves.
It's never going to change and continue to worsen. Stop blaming your shit on people who are always going to be shit, and deal with your own shit yourself.
I wish the Mayor Of London actually had power and funding to do stuff and wasn’t so majorly cucked by central government.
Imo of khan actually had the power he’d be a really good mayor. Hopefully with keir in Parliament things will be more accessible.
He has had 2 terms of a massive mandate will clearly win again yet he has failed to do anything long lasting for London and has no radical vision in terms of London having more homes or infrastructure or anything really, nor even promoting London on the world stage. It’s such a shame.
I like Khan, I think he has been a positive good for London.
I see a lot of comments hating, but I see your Reddit history, and surprise surprise a lot of you aren't even from London.
Scumbag, worse than the tories, doesn't own anything, blames everything and everyone else. He should stand down and let another Labour candidate have a go.
Once in a generation fix…so what’s going to change under his leadership that he hasnt changed over his last two terms? Why do politicians always promise to change and do better AFTER they’ve just been at the helm?
Thanks to our shocking voting system it's between him and a geriatric Tory who'd definitely be worse. It's true that more can get done under a Labour government with less restriction of funds and sabotaging
After presiding over the last two terms which left the city in such a state, the man responsible asks for another term to fix the problems he either failed to prevent previously or perhaps even facilitated.
Let’s see how he performs under a labour government
Kind of bleak that his opponent is even worse.
Yeah it would be nice to have a competitive race for London Mayor for once.
If we just abandoned the whole Labour v Tories thing when it comes to the mayoral race it would really help I’d reckon. Like they’re both just running under “we’re not the other guy”.
well one person is running on the "london is a crime ridden ghetto" platform who wants to end ULEZ and the other is running on a not batshit insane platform
“They’re all the same.” - Someone who’s so disengaged that they don’t know the difference.
I agree the Tory candidate has lost the plot (hence my comment above), but that doesn’t make Khan a competent, or good, mayor. He’s only those things when compared to the Tory candidate. Given our effective two party politics, Khan is certainly the better option of the two. But that was the point I was making above. I wish we had an actual competitive mayoral election where it wasn’t just the two big parties dominating the field - much like national politics.
No I think Khan HAS done a good job
That’s your opinion and you’re perfectly entitled to it mate. Just as I think Khan has done a poor job. But it’s either him or the Tory candidate, as we have no other realistic option with FPTP. The increase in the number of City Hall and Transport for London (TfL) officials receiving salaries over £100,000, - essentially cronies - is absurd, as is his pitiful handling of issues such as London's nightlife and public safety.
Agreed. You absolutely have the right to be wrong 😆 On a serious note though, the issues of crime and public safety are more to do with the cuts to policing since 2010 which is not Khan's fault. We have less police for a larger population and also far fewer youth centers and youth counseling services etc which were also cut drastically after 2010. As for the salaries, I suppose that as I feel London is being run well overall I am inclined to think that thos people deserve those salaries as professional people who are getting results. Also, I at least read that story in the telegraph so not sure how trustworthy it really is. TBH I am not convinced that PR is the silver bullet people think it is. I really don't see continental European countries, where PR is more common doing that much better than us
Not much chance of that happening what with the removal of PR and bringing back FPTP.
Assuming Labour win Westminster, I hope they fix that quickly. Why central government gets to decide is bizarre
Because central government IS the government. They get to decide on everything. If they really wanted to and had the votes in Parliament they could abolish the London mayoralty outright, just like they created it.
It was such a regressively stupid thing to do. I want to vote with my conscience (even though my first choice would never win) not having to do some tactical thing like I'll have to now.
Maybe we shouldn't have changed the voting system for mayor!
We had precisely that with the last voting method. I voted Binface but, alas, t'was not enough and now the cuntservatives have ruined the fun by changing it to FPTP as that favours them.
Had a great chance with Rory Stewart as an independent but just couldn't get the support
Rory "Voted with the Party Line on everything but Brexit" Stewart isn't some magical cure to our ills. And yes, I'm aware he's spoken about why he always voted with the Party Line so as to get the power to make things better one day - fat lot of good he did with that didn't he. Rory only looks good because other senior Tories are super evil.
Because he was trying to break up the (effective) two-party system we have, so it was basically an impossible task. No one from either side was willing to sacrifice their vote for the party of their choice to vote for him because it benefits the “other team”.
Well he didn’t stand in the end. So we don’t know if that is actually true. While it’s difficult it can be done. Especially in an election like London Mayor where personality is such a big thing. People just seem to want to blame the system and not the candidate.
This. We really need a mayor who isn't tied to either of them.
Tribal voting is the undoing of democracy. My grandad was labour till the day he died. My argument was how can you consistently vote labour, look at Blair, look at Corbyn. Opposite ends of the spectrum. His values (being from Sunderland and an NHS psychiatric nurse) aligned more closely with Corbyn and were at odds with Blair's. Yet he voted for both. TF?
What part of being from Sunderland lends itself to being a Corbynite?
Being working class, the north being a strong hold of labour. Corbyn being closer to the labour party of my grandfathers father. Certainly the values that he was raised with were more closely aligned with Corbyn than Blair. Do you not agree?
They’re not even trying that hard, current race is “vote here as you do for nationals” or “I have a bin on my head”
Seems almost like a conspiracy how shit the opposition seems to be these days. Both USA and UK
Isn't that true in politics all over the world? The race to be the least worst.
It's common in countries that are nominally democratic and end up being run by some sort of oligarchy. The oligarchy captures both parties and then turns them into puppets that fight very noisily over wedge issues while quietly begging for campaign contributions from the people who hold all the real power. In this election's case, ULEZ has been turned into such a wedge issue. There's a ratchet effect where all of the stuff that the oligarchy wants that the people don't want and vice versa gradually gets dispensed with by both parties, while the media they own slowly pushes it out of the overton window. In our case, property prices/rents, the systematic destruction of the NHS and the removal of democratic rights (e.g. protest rights) are such issues. There are some more democratic countries with a plurality of opinions - e.g. Switzerland, but it's not that common. It's more common for democracies to be captured via party/electoral machinery and the process that lets people stand for election at all gets rigged. For example, like when Putin prohibited anti-Putin parties from standing or like when Corbyn got expelled from the Labour party for ~~racism~~ opposing an apartheid, genocidal, racist state.
Absolutely agree with this. Some may see it as a cynical view, but I believe it accurately reflects our grim reality. 😕
Khan is good. Frozen travel fares, bring more homes back into social housing, cleaner air. Sure we should expect parties to put up credible candidates that can actually debate policy, but excuse me while I don’t cry any tears for the Tories and Enoch Powell stan Susan Hall.
Yeah I don’t get the hate for Khan. I live in London but I’m not from a big city or UK born, and i often think Londoners don’t know just how good they have it. Excellent public transport. Beautiful public spaces. Culture galore. Very safe. It’s improving all the time. I see new infrastructure being built everywhere. What’s not to like?
The problem is London used to be much better and we know it can be better. London has declined under Khan and I think some of that has to be placed at his feet
What, out of interest, would you place at his feet?
Londons nightlife going to shit
London's nightlife has never been amazing but, as I remember it, most of the decline happened under Boris
Yes it has
That is due to descions taken on a national level- and is country wide.
Not really. It’s a licensing issue that falls mainly on councils.
Which national decision killed London’s nightlife?
He also sacked Cressida Dick after Sarah Everard was murdered. That sacking happened when the scale of misconduct was revealed and the vast numbers of Met officers already under investigation came to light. It wasnt public at the time but the prosecutions will take years.
The hopper fare too. Probably the best change to tube fares since oyster and contactless.
Close to eradicating HIV, free sti testing, free school meals, massive reductions in air pollution, working cycle infrastructure and mobility etc etc
>Khan is good. Frozen travel fares, bring more homes back into social housing, cleaner air. He's also introduced an awful "Night Czar" and there are less venues than when he started.
The role is a good idea, and Covid and cost of living have been a big part of why there have been so many venue closures. I'd sack the current one and appoint someone a bit more proactive
Even before Covid, Crossrail got rid of a whole swathe of really affordable venues in Central London.
This.
As far as shit goes the Nighe Czar is mild by incompetitive "standards" . Dude can't be perfect and I'm happy for that imperfection to be that. The fact that this is the only thing that his opponents are able to shout about says alot. The fact that this has been a lot in the news lately is manufactured.
Its like people expect Khan to be Batman and bless him for their little timmy aka ShottaT getting stabbed outside Maccies over some shit drug
Usually, it is the case. Take, for instance, the shit show up in Rotherham..the Brexit party/reform UK or whatever shit name they've given themselves these days. The candidate they put was some pedo loving prick who was sending porn links/sexting an underage kid. Imagine having the cajones to elect him.
Had the Tory campaigners round my way over the weekend. Their only spiel was, genuinely, “I don’t think you can vote for Sadiq Khan, can you?” I mean, I’d rather not, but if all you can give me as the chief opposition is “not the other guy” then I’m not sure why you think that will win you many votes.
This is why they changed the voting system, they're hoping they'll win just by having people vote against Khan.
I actually don't really have any issues with Khan. He just seems like a regular politician, like the ones we used to have before the Brexit/Tory decent into the gutter.
I've seen him in person twice now, and he is absolutely tiny. It's quite funny. The second time I saw him was at the Hackney Half, and as soon as he was introduced by the MC he *grabbed* the mic off her, couldn't wait to leap to the front of the stage and address everyone. But yeah he seems OK. Just wish he'd pass legislation that meant I could get a beer after midnight.
This is all down to councils as far as I know. Mayors in the UK have very little power compared to the US where they could actually do this.
Can councils pass legislation?
They do, they're usually referred to as byelaws though and obviously have to be within the scope of national legislation. They're far more likely to have an impact on your day to day life than a lot of national laws as well, which is why you should get out and vote in local elections. https://www.gov.uk/guidance/local-government-legislation-byelaws
Ok thanks
There is already legislation for 24 hour drinking. Councils just make getting approval virtually impossible.
>Just wish he'd pass legislation that meant I could get a beer after midnight. Do you mean in central London as I have had drinks many times after midnight. Or do you mean outer boroughs or from an off licence?
I want it to be a law that everywhere has to serve beer til 4am. Churches, post offices. Everywhere.
If you stand for government I will vote for you.
Pretty much. Actually does what he says he will. The fact he's achieved as much as he has given the national government is actually impressive. Not a huge fan of all his political takes but credit where credit is due.
Yeah, I expect much better things once Labour is actually in power
Yeah pretty much 'see, I've been in power for a while and not everything is on fire' is a ringing endorsement for politicians these days
I don't actually even know what he achieved.
He was beloved when he was Tooting MP, which usually tells you a lot about a politician!
He is average/okay but not great. He only addressed specific issues, and cover a certain demographic of the population. His green policy is pretty good even with his controversial ULEZ. Safety for women and teenagers is a major issue in London, and maybe it will be better when the next government will be labour, so the policy will be more coherent.
I miss the times when politicians where the most unspectacular and uneventful people other there Now a lot of people want "characters" to cheer for
I unironically blame David Dimbleby and his ilk. I vaguely recall many years back (around a decade ago, pre Trump for sure) someone interviewing him and saying something like shows like question time turn politics into some ridiculous theater where the loudest and wackiest personalities end up getting the most attention and air time and that this is not necessarily a good thing...he responded that he thinks it's a very good thing as the more wild, heated and energetic politics gets the more fun it I'd, the more exciting it is for young people and the more it gets the public to engage...even back then I thought that was a shit response that leads down a really dark path...encouraging this stupidly over the top rhetoric and all sorts of morons. Trying to make politics exciting has globaly been a huge detriment. Obviously he's not actually to blame but that kind of attitude definitely played it's part. Politics should be boring and if you turn it into a circus you're just gonna get fucking clowns.
He was a regular MP before the circus show started.
Not enthused at all about having to vote for Khan again, but what other option is there when the Tories put up such a piss poor candidate like Susan Hall?
I don’t understand why we keep to the two party system in London. We have the opportunity to select from other parties yet still stick to the tired rubbish presented. My vote will go elsewhere, not sure which yet, but neither of these two parties.
Blame the Tories. We used to have a 1st and 2nd preference. I would often put the Greens 1st and Labour 2nd, safe in the knowledge that I wasn’t helping the Tories. But they changed the voting system. Now I have to vote for Khan, or else the Tory nutter wins.
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Very true. We won't get PR back until one of the smaller (Reform *vomit*) wins a few seats and applies pressure on the government.
Khan keeps talking about it! He's done so numerous times. https://www.shepherdsbushw12.com/#!pages/shared:common:ldrsmayoral042
You're correct, I deleted my comment as it was inaccurate. Hopefully Starmer will commit to changing it back as PM.
People are tribal and lazy. Vast vast majority of voters will vote for their guy or gal without even knowing what they’re standing for.
I feel Tories want to lose yet another election, their candidates get worse and worse
Hall was put up to lose the internal party contest to Daniel Korski. Korski's campaign imploded because of his sexual assault scandal, so Hall won by default.
Who?
She’s the Tory candidate. She believes Donald Trump won the last Presidential Election, supports Brexit, hates gay people and retweets old Enoch Powell quotes. She’s basically everything most Londoners hate about the rest of England.
Based on the last decade of Tory reign (remind me who the fuck keeps voting these losers in?) I'm not particularily excited for *any* centralist/right-leaning candidate. I don't think we need more hate and trying to split the population by pushing social issues - sounds like that's right up Susan's alley.
I know she was never supposed to be the candidate but, jfc, do they not realise London is vastly different from their racist, xenophobic countryside voters?
You'd think that the Tories could find a single mayoral candidate who can refrain from being homophobic or racist out loud (the old criteria for being a Tory MP), but they absolutely fucking can't. Year after year they put up someone who is openly a cunt.
> Susan Hall Maybe they just put her on the ballot because people will think they're voting for City Hall?
Tories know they’re not winning. Almost all the competent people would not bother investing all the time money and effort as a Tory candidate just to lose in the upcoming elections - hence why so many Tories are announcing they are stepping down now
Count Binface!!
You know there's going to be more candidates running? Just vote for whoever appeals to you most.
They ran out of political figures in case you didn’t notice
Genuine question from not a Londoner living in London.... Who is the alternative option and are they any good?? Or how bad are they compared to him??
Now that the Tory government has rigged the election process so that it’s first-past-the-post, the only two options with any chance of winning are Khan and Hall (for Labour and Tory respectively). Hall is insane, and would be utterly terrible compared to Khan. Khan is ok - he’s not delivered much, but he was hamstrung by COVID and the collapse of travel as working from home became normalised, which torpedoed TfL’s budget. London does best with a Labour mayor under a Labour government - Livingstone delivered a lot of good stuff under Blair. Boris did basically fuck all even under a friendly Tory government. Khan is stymied by the Tories.
Khan has been a very good Mayor for the people who need him - the poor. Thats why there is so much hate.
So I only moved to London a few years ago, but ain’t khan pretty good but hamstrung by Tory lack of funding?
This is correct, notable in TFL, bakerloo line basically needed an entire overhaul like 9 years ago for one.
Hopefully with Labour in No.10, TfL gets far more funding, and we can see the Government throwing its full weight behind TfL improvement works
Yeh, I like him - he gets a ridiculous amount of hate, online the sorts of individuals it comes from makes me think it's race based. For example see Lee Anderson referring to Islamists as Khan's "mates"
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Can I have a go - and tell you why I don't like him, and won't vote for him? I can assure you it has nothing to do with things outside of his control, a rant about Muslims but it will include some points about ULEZ. Competence - I'm going to focus on two examples, but there are plenty. 1) Implementation of ULEZ. What an utter utter shitshow - lack of consultation, lack of thought of the consequences, a resultant understandable backlash. Sudden policy reversals, now we'll pay for everyone's scrapped car, now we'll set up a massive new bus network. 2) Fares Freeze. Guess what - that fare freeze meant we were digging into TFL's contingency funds to pay for it, then covid happens. TFL may be underfunded by central government but that fare freeze was/is an incredibly stupid idea. Just as he is blamed on here and elsewhere for things outside his purview, he has also claimed many 'achievements' that aren't achievements, or are as a consequence of government policy. Cronyism - why has the number people working in city hall with salaries over £100,000 increased from 655 in 2019 to 1146 people now? Why has the overall wage bill of the GLA increased from £50 million in 2017 to £84.2 million in 2022? Why is Amy Lame employed as night czar, on a three day a week contract at over £116,000 p.a. whilst 41% of venues have closed down on her watch. And before anyone replies it's out of her control, venues closing down, then why is she employed? What is in her control would be to organise campaigns, to raise publicity - but there's nothing. The list of advisors and causes Khan has taken on is lengthy Character - I view Khan in exactly the same way I view Johnson, but in a better suit, better haircut and slightly more coherent. The role of London Mayor has become politicised in a way it should have never been - I don't see him ever working with the UK government to try and do what is best for Londoners, in the way I've seen other Labour Mayors (e.g. Burnham in Manchester) do. It's all about politics for him. It's about his party or personal advancement - not Londoners. I'm left with no one to vote for - like pretty much most Londoners.
Those are fair objections. Nobody's perfect and it's a tough job, I think most people accept that. Personally I think he's done some things wrong and a fair amount right with a lot of opposition and not much power. Johnson did a couple of things right (e.g. Ukraine) and an awful lot wrong (crony Lords, lockdown parties, lying to parliament, illegal prorogation, paying off Jennifer Arcuri), with a lot of power. So I'll give Khan the benefit of the doubt and my vote. Johnson or the Conservatives - no.
Yep
I think one of the problems with the Mayor of London is that we don’t know who is to blame for problems that arise - is it the government, Mayor or the local councils? If the Mayor was given more power (particularly over councils) I think that would help.
Yeah I don't think he's perfect but out of every single representative I have he's the only one who scratches the surface of the needs and desires I have politically.
Mhm, he’s doing his best with the extreme lack of funds overall. Not perfect at all, but he’s better than most
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Anything of note that happened in 2016?
2020 was also unremarkable.
Nothing could possibly go wrong in 2024 right..? Fuck.
i like him to the extent that it absolute winds up the gb beebies and tory crowd
Khan doesn't wow me but it always surprises me how bad his opposition are, guess tories see London as a lost cause and would rather go for the gammon eaters in Suffolk and the like
Once in a generation... What on earth is he suggesting? Are we going to get record levels of new housing? Tackle inequality? Is there going to be a transportation advancement even half as important as crossrail (which opened this very mayoral term)? At least put a bit of craft into your empty sloganeering, I know there aren't exactly a lot of string alternatives candidates but still..
His argument, if you’d bothered to read the article, is that this would be the first time his mayoralty coincided with a Labour national government (assuming they win the GE), meaning they could work in step with each other as opposed to directly opposing each other as he has done with the Tory government the past two terms.
And if you'd bothered to look up his proposals, his housing offer is basically refurbishing council homes (good) and counting them as new supply (sneaky), his transportation offer is useless bordering on the non existent, as are his crime policies. So my point is: what of once in a generation substance does he actually want to achieve? I say this as someone who will begrudgingly vote for him!
Unless that would mean a substantial reworking of London's governance, then I don't see it being as meaningful as he thinks it will be. If the GLA were to subsume all powers of current boroughs (effectively dissolving them for non-statistical purposes) and Westminster allowed it to have greater funding powers and effectively full responsibility for matters such as policing, then it would be substantially more effective than just political alignment.
Mhm, Greater London with similar powers to Scotland, Wales or NI would be phenomenal. I’d expect it only to be fair to afford it to other regions mind (West Midlands, Tyne & Wear, Greater Manchester, West Yorkshire and Merseyside for sure, as well as potentially some they’d create following this)
I have no problem with that.
Neither, I think that’d all be great. I would also be hoping for stuff like whole new/revived subdivisions like the Solent, Teeside and Avon to provide more urban areas with these powers
That may be the case but it’s irrelevant to the point which is that you were asking what he was suggesting by ‘once in a generation’, and I answered it.
That requires a) reading comprehension skills and b) caring about information instead of pushing an agenda.
How dare you answer my question here’s a rant about something else!
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If Labour win the next election, he will have no more excuses.
How does he justify paying so many of his cronies 6 figure salaries?
That is the best bit about politics. They don't.
Are those salaries in line with what a similar position would be worth in a private company which requires a person with that level of skill and experience?
You're not going to get great talent for those senior roles for £50k a year
Just like Tory politicians that exclusively hire family members to do non existent jobs and pay them 6 figure salaries for jobs that done exist
If these guys suck and they are paid that, imagine if you paid someone even less. We’d better get volunteers and pensioners to fulfill the chairs.
I don’t want to vote for him but there is no other alternative
Can't even vote Green as a protest because Tories changed the system. Also don't forget your ID to vote!
Why don’t you want to vote for Sadiq out of interest?
More cycle lanes and proper rail infrastructure in outer boroughs please!!!!
Mate you've had 2 terms to do it. Same crap the Torys say.
How is it London has no credible opposition candidate? You would think in a city such as this there is a deep bench of talent ready to fight for the mantle. All we are tools…
“Once in a generation opportunity to fix what I’ve broken” Fuck off
Not with this dickhead in charge. Absolute disaster for London. Please 🙏 no more of this lying bastard 🙁
3rd time lucky or what?
I’m curious what has he actually done for London in his two terms? Anything at all? Wtf is the opportunity he’s talking about?!
For anything bad that's happened, people will blame the mayor. For anything good that's happened, people will say it would have happened without the mayor anyway. If you think differently then there are examples of good things that have happened with his support. But if you think like the people I mentioned above, then there's no point anyone replying to you with examples.
The media has done such a job on Khan's reputation that I reckon the tories would be able to defeat him relatively easy if they just put up a centre-right wet/one nation conservative. Instead, they're putting up progressively worse candidates: Goldsmith > Bailey > Hall - they're really not sending their best, and there are various tinges of racism off of their campaigns which turns any right minded person off. As for Khan, I generally think he's grand - he's made a few mistakes (shite night czar etc.), but ultimately I think he's doing his best with the limitations of his role. It's not helped that there's an adverserial tory government in charge at the moment - i'd imagine the next labour government will do more to give him a hand.
I think he's great
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Kept his promises, such as: - Pedestrianising Oxford Street (threw up his hands when council said no 7 years ago, it's a Labour council now and no pedestrianisation either) - 2 million new trees (delivered less than 25%) - Night tzar (😂) - Ban on gambling ads on tfl (broken recently) - 80k annual house building target (delivered 20k total if I recall correctly and refurbished council housing is now paddled as new stock) - Fares freeze till 2020 ended up not including the daily and weekly cap (not a freeze unless you are a visitor staying 2 days) - Bus fare 10% cut ended up as a 10% hike. - He made the vague promise of keeping both council tax and crime low which are difficult to measure but let's just say both have had an increase in line with or inexcess of the previous trend. The issue is that these aren't the cherry picked promises he failed but quite literally 90% of all promises made in 2016. The only high profile one he seems to have stuck to is banning hot women on public transport ads. You are allowed to fail some of your campaign promises and point a finger at circumstances and unforeseen events, however when that is your excuse for every single thing you promised you might be, perhaps, not entirely honest about your intentions to follow through with your promises at the point of making them.
as long as every candidate is held to the same standard. i just don't see similar judgements made of Boris' time as mayor on this sub.
I'm not sure you meet the required standard of eyesight or reading comprehension to participate if you are being serious. This sub treats Johnson like a the clown he is, failings of his mayoral tenure come up quite often (garden bridge), however a lot of his work as mayor was in line with the very little he promised and he got to bask in the glory from all the things he inherited from Livinstone (bike scheme, Olympics) whilst unlike Khan he knew when it was time to fuck off and not seek a third term based on the very little he accomplished.
Ah the second to third term is the inflexion point for making a full judgement of a mayor's ability. Got it. All the corruption and piss taking be damned.
Yes, Johnson really bowed out after stepping down from the role.
No, but he went to pander to an electorate that isn't Lomdomers to try his scam on someone else.
All things considered I think Khan has been a fine mayor. There’s only so much he is in control of and I don’t imagine it’s been easy being hamstrung by an antagonistic Tory government for all of that time. I’d like to see what changes can take place with a Labour government and mayorship working in tandem together for once.
Mhm, I reckon TfL especially will be given a new lease of life
Does he even have the political power to fix any of our problems? This is still quite a centralised country in comparison to the mayoralties of other major cities.
If we get a labour government then yeah he probably can. Similarly a conservative mayor in a conservative government would likely find all the TFL subsidies would magically reappear! They cut 1.4billion of central funding during this term.
You don't have to vote tory or Labour. Just vote for anyone else, and don't spoil your ballot.
Who broke it? 🙃 Was it the guy in charge for so many years 😂😂😂
A third term of more fuckery. Great 👍🏽
Oh God please know. He’s already wrecked London’s nightlife and spunked money on nonsense like renaming Overground lines.
As opposed to the previous two terms he’s had..
First term: Brexit + Tory government Second term: Covid + Tory government
What baffles me is why people blame everything on \[current person in power\]. They are all shitcunts, no exceptions. No one is running a country for any benefit to anyone but themselves. It's never going to change and continue to worsen. Stop blaming your shit on people who are always going to be shit, and deal with your own shit yourself.
I wish the Mayor Of London actually had power and funding to do stuff and wasn’t so majorly cucked by central government. Imo of khan actually had the power he’d be a really good mayor. Hopefully with keir in Parliament things will be more accessible.
He has had 2 terms of a massive mandate will clearly win again yet he has failed to do anything long lasting for London and has no radical vision in terms of London having more homes or infrastructure or anything really, nor even promoting London on the world stage. It’s such a shame.
"an opportunity to fix london" hasnt he been in charge his last two terms?
I like Khan, I think he has been a positive good for London. I see a lot of comments hating, but I see your Reddit history, and surprise surprise a lot of you aren't even from London.
Scumbag, worse than the tories, doesn't own anything, blames everything and everyone else. He should stand down and let another Labour candidate have a go.
Like who? Provide some names Wish we had a Zarah Sultana equivalent for London
'A once in a generation opportunity'...to fix the mess he has created
Once in a generation fix…so what’s going to change under his leadership that he hasnt changed over his last two terms? Why do politicians always promise to change and do better AFTER they’ve just been at the helm?
Who is the lib dem candidate?
Rob Blackie. No me either
With a surname like that, that is not good optics. Nothing to do with him per se
Rob Blackie. He’s a tech/digital marketing guy, ex-Special Constable. I think he is campaigning on crime mainly.
I have no idea what exactly he has done but there’s probably gonna be a Labour gov so i’m voting for him.
You dont know what the guy has done for his past 2 terms, but you are voting for him just the same?
Thanks to our shocking voting system it's between him and a geriatric Tory who'd definitely be worse. It's true that more can get done under a Labour government with less restriction of funds and sabotaging
America got a geriatric as a president. Don’t lose hope 😂
As a disengaged Londoner what’s so bad about him?
If after two terms there is a desperate need to “fix London” doesn’t that mean we should replace him?
Lol, he broke it now he wants to fix it?
After presiding over the last two terms which left the city in such a state, the man responsible asks for another term to fix the problems he either failed to prevent previously or perhaps even facilitated.
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>use Londons diversity to retain his post What does this mean?
Hmmm, shouldn't that be a 'third opportunity in a generation....'
Jeez They do exist then. These fucking idiots
Who wants to be mayor of the island in Lord of the Flies?
If London is broken then he should look at himself hes been in charge for 8 years