London Mayoral hustings: Webchat with Sadiq Khan MP, Labour Mayoral candidate, on Monday 25 April at 1pm

[BojanaMumsnet]

Hello

We’re pleased to announce a webchat with Sadiq Khan MP, the Labour candidate for London Mayor, on Monday 25 April at 1pm.

Sadiq grew up in South London, where he still lives. After university he worked as a human rights lawyer, and in 2005 became MP for the Tooting. He was the first Muslim to attend Cabinet, serving as Communities minister and later as Transport minister – leading on projects including Crossrail 1.

Sadiq is campaigning “for all Londoners to have the same opportunities he had: affordable housing, decent pay and the chance to get on in life and fulfil their potential”.

Please do join us live on the day or leave a question here on this thread if you can’t make it. And, as ever, please do remember our webchat guidelines; only one question each please (follow-ups allowed if there’s time) and please do be polite.

The London mayoral election will be held on 5 May.

Thanks
MNHQ

I have an undecided parent, what will you offer to support someone retired in an outer London borough?

What will you do for stopping the house prices rocketing further up than they already are? As it is, Londoners can't afford a decent home on their average salaries in zones 1-5.
Do you have plans to ease the commuting for the people who are consequently moving no it of London but are forced to travel to their jobs?

Just want to say that you have my support.
Multi-millionaire Goldsmith has behaved appallingly name calling with "Radical" referring to your religion, "A danger to London" and all the rest. You have responded with nothing but dignity.

As a Londoner I am concerned by the fact that building more houses simply leads to a higher population, do how do you balance that with a population's need for services such as A&E, GP surgeries, schools, nursery schools and transport?

As a city we are suffering from overcrowding, and what with hundreds of thousands of empty homes that have been purchased purely for investment it seems short sighted to simply build more houses to be sold to the wealthy.

I'm interested in what you can actually do during times of ideological Tory cuts which are destroying London's public services.

Hi Sadiq, when you say 'affordable housing' what do you mean by this? We desperately need more proper social housing as lots of people cannot afford 80% of the market rent in London boroughs. I've been very disappointed in some Labour-run councils in London and their lack of commitment to truly affordable housing. Is this something the London Mayor has any control or influence over in any case?

'Affordable housing in London' - isn't that just a false promise to the people you're trying to sell the campaign promise to?

Don't get me wrong, Zac's not my cup of tea. But I think you have to show how you will cap rents at the very least.

It affects the whole of London and all those who wish to work there. It's a national issue.

There is a London plan in the form of the Mayor of London's Spatial Development Strategy, but in truth, there hasn't been a proper London plan for some time - how would you address such a gap, especially as although London has economic dominance, it has some of the highest levels of poverty in England, particularly child poverty where 4-10 children live in poverty which is 12% above the national average?

Why are you trying to win the women's vote here on mumsnet when you are routinely aligned with organisations and speak at events where women are not only segregated in the audience but aren't even allowed to use the same entrance?

Sadiq, you are a very good local MP. One of the things you work hard at is engaging with your local area on a personal level and being raising the profile of activities, events and businesses. If you become Mayor, are you excited by the opportunity to do this for London?

I think a lot of the campaign has been a bit negative (sadly) and so I'd like to hear more about this, to be honest.

Sadiq what will you do to protect investment in transport when you're cutting the budget by £2bn? I commute every day and the situation with delays and crowding is getting worse.

Can you tell us a bit more about your track record as MP for Tooting? It is said that 80% of Somali women have FGM. Where did you speak out about this and other barbsric practices like forced marriage by your own constituents?

Khan has played the Muslim card at every given opportunity, infact he has stated that it would send a phenomenal message to the world of Londoners were to vote for a Muslim mayor. And if London doesn't, then what. Are we all bigoted. ? Zac is not playing a dirty game. Khan is. The election should be about politics that is all

Hi Sadiq, another happy Tooting constituent here and like others I'm dissappointed by how negative this campaign has become.

As a Londoner I'm really worried about the possibility of a 'Brexit'. You've made your pro-EU position clear but the Labour party's support for staying has so far been quite muted. If you are elected mayor will you be taking active steps to make the case for remaining in the EU in the run up to the referendum?

The election should be about politics that is all

I disagree. Campaigning on personality is obviously demeaning - which is what I think you meant, Chipstick. And I will be voting politically in my local elections, as it's important this time! But Mayor of London is a unique role ... which was particularly well filled by Ken Livingstone. We could sit here all night finding things that are wrong about Ken, both personally and politically, but he was great for London because he really understands & loves the place.

I think it's clear that Sadiq knows London a damn sight better than Zac.

I'm interested in the answer to Scarriff's question. And in a firmer explanation of "affordable housing".

hurryupharry.org/2016/04/24/the-way-they-were-labour-leaders-versus-sadiq-khan/

Hi, Mr. Khan. I don't much like your opponent either, and I don't think you are an extremist. I do think that there are some genuine questions that have to be asked about your record in actually tackling extremism, however. Do you have any comments to make in response to the allegations made in the above link?

Sadiq, I have been really impressed by Jeremy Corbyn. I know you nominated him for leader so I'd like to vote for you but I don't feel like you really support Jeremy or his policies any more. Please can you reassure me that as mayor you would back up the leader of your party instead of trying to distance yourself from him?

Mr Khan how would the Brexit affect your plans?

Hi Sadiq

The London mayor is actually really constrained in what he or she can do - it's basically a transport commissioner role. Don't you think it would be better if specialist transport geeks were elected, rather than it being used as a profile-building exercise for major party politicians? Let's face it, it's got almost nothing to do with national party politics, and (as we've seen in this campaign) the partisan barracking is a major distraction from an important technical position.

Mr Khan. It is reported that you will have to hike council tax bills of the average London household by at least £1,300 over four years to pay for your fares pledge. Can you please give everyone here a commitment not to raise council tax if you are elected Mayor?

Hi Sadiq,

I was wondering if you would like to respond to yesterday's attack from Alan Sugar?

Hi Sadiq, what will you do to enable my children to cycle to school on their own bicycles safely? Will you continue and extend current cycle vision for London, more specifically creating safe space for cycling for everyone, from children to pensioners? Thank you

hello. ex-londoner here - I left as we couldn't afford a house on a two public-sector wages (think band 6 nurse equivalent). Is there any effective way of making London life doable for those vast swathes of people who are not eligible for social housing, but will not ever being to afford a family-sized property whether to rent or to buy?

As a side issue, I am however very glad that we didn't need to take part in the bunfight of London primary schools admissions. The whole business of moving 50 yards down the road and then back again, finding God etc, and then still being allocated a school in a different borough is really not the norm in most other parts of the country, and has been hugely stressful for friends still in the capital. I worry about the children of those who aren't canny or sharp-elbowed enough to negotiate the system. But I don't think the mayor has any sway over education or admissions policies (happy to be corrected???) so I guess my one question is as above.

Sadiq, why are you using the same dog whistle tactics that you accuse your rival of using, implying that he is islamophobic? Isn't it just a cynical way to harvest votes from Muslim communities?

Perhaps time to stop using your faith as an instrument of getting power?

Good luck with the webchat, mate. You're going to need it - especially if like so many Mumsnet threads it ends up in Daily Mail

I already asked my question - will you at least fight for a rent cap?

Yes - Good Luck!

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