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

Sadiq's arrived at the Towers so we'll be kicking off shortly.

@YayaGN

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

Thanks for your question Yaya. I want to make it safer and easier for everyone to cycle in London. I want to build on the progress made by Boris and Ken. We need more segregated cycle lanes and Quietways. We also need to ensure we build into new developments cycle storage. We need to make dangerous junctions safer and try and reduce HGV lorries during rush hour. I want more children to learn cycling proficiency.

Hello

Do you think that Boris Johnson's popularity and 'national stature', alongside the 2012 London Olympics, has elevated the role of London Mayor to the national stage? If so, do you think this is a good thing and would you hope to continue in the vain, rather than simply a devolved mayor?

thanks

@LineyReborn

'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.

Londoners are being priced out of our city because of the housing crisis. We need more genuinely affordable homes to rent and buy. By the way this isn't homes costing up to £450,000! My definition of an affordable home are ones where you pay either a social rent (council homes), a London living rent (1/3rd of local earnings) or one which is part-buy part-rent.

I will setup a London wide not-for-profit letting agent which will mean renters aren't ripped off by some estate agents as they currently are. We will offer three year tenancies where the rent only goes up by inflation.

Those are chocolate digestives. Very extravagant. I'd have thought you more of a rich tea man, possibly garibaldis on special occasions.

I think those biscuits are prominently positioned to forestall an influx of biscuit jokes.

Ooops! Perhaps I shouldn't have said that!

@VertigoNun

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

My mum makes sure this is a priority for me!

We need to build genuinely affordable homes so children and grandchildren can live near older parents. I'm also promising to keep the Freedom Pass and the 60+ Oyster card which is a lifeline for older Londoners like my mum. I think that the Mayor should have a leadership and coordination role over our NHS which is facing a crisis in London.

I want a return to real neighbourhood policing so we can see bobbies back on the beat which makes us safer.

Some questions coming in from Twitter:

From @BermondseyBeat: Will you block the 'Garden Bridge' and give Londoners a practical crossing and not a tourist attraction?

From @nazgar001: if the following is untrue [image attached], will Mr Khan make an explicit statement and sue Mr Zac?

As Mayor could you and would you impose a massive tax on non resident property owners? I'm thinking about 'foreign nationals not resident' who invest in property here.

Thank you for answering my question!

I am allowed to ask a follow up, which is, somewhat inevitably, can you please give the details of this London wide not-for-profit letting agency? Thanks.

London has 349,000 households in some form of housing backlog (SHMA report) and an additions 49,000 households as formed annually.

With a house building target of only 50,000 it is estimated that it will take 20 yrs to resolve the housing back log (SHMA) .

Is it time to boost the housing supply numbers by advocating building in the greenbelt?

If an extra 12,000 homes were produced using greenfield sites we would half the time this crisis will last to only 10 years. Asking for people to wait up to 10 years is hash but they will hopefully understand that housing is not your only priority; people need golf course and views over farms. And we must keep the local councils happy with the development.

Antenatal provision is a big problem in my borough of Barking and Dagenham, unless you have money or act quickly to get on the NHS free sessions there isn't anything else going on... What could you do as London Mayor?

@eeyoresgrumpierfriend

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?

Yes.

I will happily campaign with the Prime Minister, Chancellor and others to keep us in the EU. Putting aside the huge cultural and social benefits, as President Obama said this weekend the EU helps in security too. I have seen the huge economic benefits of membership of the EU to London. More than 500,000 jobs are dependent on membership of the EU, more than 60% of the world's leading companies have their European HQ in London and half of our city's exports go to the EU.

I will spend the first six weeks after being elected Mayor campaigning for us to remain in the EU.

I think a Mayor for London who wants us to leave the EU would be damaging to our city.

Thank you, she will be interested in the free public transport and NHS care. Sadly she doesn't care about afordable housing for others as long as she is ok . I am trying to persuade her not to vote for Zac

Why should we trust you with London's security and the well being of London's women when you have attended so many rallies attended by Islamists, and attended meetings segregated by gender?

Hi Sadiq. As I understand it, there's a very worrying proposal coming from the govt at the moment to redistribute a lot of money away from London's schools, in favour of the out-of-London counties. I've heard that it could mean some serious cuts for schools in London. If you're elected as Mayor, is there anything you can do to stop this from happening?

@thecatfromjapan

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.

I want to be a Mayor for all Londoners ensuring all Londoners have the chances that I did to fulfill their potential. I have just come from delivering a speech, with Doreen Lawrence at my former university, where I set out my plans to set up 'Skills for Londoners' which will ensure businesses, educators and local authorities help me train up today's youngsters to have the skills for tomorrows jobs. I will set up a Business Advisory Board (at least half of whose members will be women) with a cross-section of London business leaders to advise me on policies to help our businesses to flourish.

@FJS1984

Antenatal provision is a big problem in my borough of Barking and Dagenham, unless you have money or act quickly to get on the NHS free sessions there isn't anything else going on... What could you do as London Mayor?

Across London maternity units are closing down at a time when our population is rising. Both Boris Johnson and Zac Goldsmith have been quiet whilst this has been happening.

In my view, a Mayor for London should be a champion, an advocate for the city. As Mayor, I'll stand up to the Government's cuts to our NHS. I will fight for the Mayor to have a bigger role over our NHS. The government has promised the Mayor of Greater Manchester more powers. I think we should have more powers too.

Thank you for answering my question, Sadiq.

I have to admit, one of the things I like about you is that you really do seem to understand and connect with ordinary Londoners. Certainly, as a local MP, you've always been good at bearing in mind our day to day concerns, not just whatever happens to be in the headlines.

I hope you don't stop doing that when you become Mayor. You won't, will you?

@eggsandham

Hi Sadiq. As I understand it, there's a very worrying proposal coming from the govt at the moment to redistribute a lot of money away from London's schools, in favour of the out-of-London counties. I've heard that it could mean some serious cuts for schools in London. If you're elected as Mayor, is there anything you can do to stop this from happening?

Thanks for the question.

My children attend local state schools and I've been a governor for the last 20 years of the primary school I attended as a child. One of the reasons London's schools have improved over the last 10 or so years is due to the investment our schools have received through the London challenge. The plans from the Government to change the funding formula for schools will mean money being taken away from children in London at a time when we need it the most.

I will campaign against a change in funding formula that adversely affects our children.

Hi Sadiq

What are your views about Zac Goldsmith's claim you will impose a new wealth tax on jewellery? Why was this aimed at the Asian community? The rest of us have jewellery too you know!

@gjames

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.

You shouldn't believe everything you read GJames!

Fares are going through the roof in London. We pay the highest fares in Europe and they have increased by more than 50% over the last eight years. I have a fully funded plan to freeze fares so you won't pay a penny more in 2020 than you are paying now - this will cost £452 million, not £2 billion. In fact, the TfL Commissioner has accepted that my fares freeze won't impact infrastructure investment.

There are huge savings and efficiencies to be made at TfL.

Let me give you some examples:

• TfL spent more than £383 million on consultants and agency staff last year. We can reduce this significantly.
• £61 million was lost last year through fare evasion. This can be reduced.
• We can increase the revenue streams of TfL to help freeze fares.
• TfL could bid for contracts in other cities around the world and we can be building genuinely affordable homes on some of the surplus TfL land.

Guys guys we haven't asked about biscuits

Sadiq what is your favourite biscuit please thank you

@HildurOdegard

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?

Thanks for your question.

I am the only one of the two leading candidates who is a proud feminist! (see last week's Grazia where Zac said he would "never" call himself a feminist)

I prefer events to be mixed but like the Prime Minister and Zac Goldsmith, sometimes attend events at synagogues, temples, gurdwaras and mosques where there are separate arrangements for men and women.

I have set out plans to address gender inequality in London. For example, I will publish City Hall's first ever Gender Pay Audit. I will make sure at least half of the members of my Business Advisory Board are women. The TfL Board at the moment only has four out of sixteen members who are women. This probably explains why sexist adverts appear on our tube and the British Transport Police can think it's ok to close down a special unit to deal with sexual assaults on public transport. I will ensure there are more women on the TfL Board.

As a father of two daughters, this is personal to me.