wow distinguished rabbis
Shalom to the Muslims busily preparing
for Ramadan in a couple of days asalamu
alayum to everyone a big welcome to the
first in what will be I think hundreds
and I mean that over the next 11 months
hundreds of events like this all over
this great city of
London I was an animal welfare event in
nw10 this
afternoon it was very
busy and many of the people there knew
of the launch of this campaign this
evening and some are
here but I had five
conversations in
particular with with what I call
traditional
londoners real all women real perly
queens they were rhyming
slang real London
accents and all five of them five
separate
conversations said the same
thing that the working class are being
pushed out of
London that's what they said to me
and so the first election pledge I'm
going to make to you this evening is
that if I the mayor of London the
working class will be coming back into
London and will no more be pushed out
and
marginalized and I couldn't hear Max all
that well but I know that you did
because it's not possible to listen to
Max and not hear him well but what I
understood that he was
saying is the second of my election
pledges we will no longer tolerate an
organized crime racket going on in the
square mile in the city of London in the
heart of this great capital
city we will not tolerate it
morally we will undertake and
unremitting campaign to bring to book
those who brought Britain to the brink
of disaster and who continue to apply
their wicked trade under our
noses and as I'm going to point out in
an open letter I'm going to read to you
now for the first
time people who say well the mayor
doesn't have power to do that
just you watch just you wait and
see nobody yet in my life has been able
to persuade me that I don't have the
power to take them on that I don't have
the power to tackle them that I don't
have the power to Rally millions of
people against what they're
doing and in so far as the mayor of
London is limited in power that's part
of my project in this period of
devolution of a parliament in Scotland a
parliament in Wales a northern
Powerhouse in the north of England it's
time that London got its share of the
power and I'm going to fight for
it I don't accept that the city of
London is entitled to build a moot a
legislative moat around its activities I
don't accept that the city of London has
the right to its own pet police force
the city of London Police they have
fancy uniforms no doubt they might be
good at catching pickpockets in
Liverpool Street
Station but they failed to notice the
theft and Mal feance of hundreds of
Millions millions of pounds over these
last 7
years so take notice if I'm the
mayor and I can do it there'll be no
more city of London Police the city of
London Police will merge into a London
Police Force which looks like London
which is led by people who look like
London who treat all londoners the same
whether they have a white collar or a
black face that's the kind of police we
demand here in
London you're 28 times more likely 28
times more likely to be stopped and
searched in London if you're black or
Muslim why aren't they stopping and
searching the white color criminals in
the city of London they'd find far more
in the pockets of
those I'm going to deal with the housing
crisis and in detail that is pushing the
working class out of London I'm going to
deal with policing in London I'm going
to deal with transport in London I'm
going to deal with the economy and jobs
in London London and I'm going to deal
with culture in
London it's a 17 billion a year
budget and it's been run for eight years
by a blonde
buffoon a
multi-millionaire
clown who has achieved nothing for
ordinary
londoners and those things he does claim
to have achieved
actually were done by Ken Livingston the
only decent mayor that we've ever had
here in
London eight years of Boris the buffoon
and nothing is coming through the
pipeline Boris Johnson
inherited a whole plethora of plans
projects developments including the
Olympic games including even the Boris
bikes the Arcane bikes and which are now
I see colored red in anticipation of my
mealy beginning next
may but Boris after8 years has achieved
nothing and there's nothing coming
through that's a problem but it's not an
insurmountable one it means that I will
inherit that 17 billion a year budget
and use it for ordinary londoners right
from day one I've written this open
letter which I'd like to read to you
because it's being released this evening
and I think it's very important what did
I do with my
glasses I need glasses to look for my
glasses I see the guardian described me
today as a veteran and
politician well I'm only
60 and my likely labor opponent is
68 maybe we're both
veterans the difference is she supported
the war in Iraq with all her might and I
opposed it with all my
might she said
she said she'd throw herself under a bus
for Tony Blair she really did say
that as Ken Livingston pointed out well
we've introduced a lot of buses so she's
got plenty to choose
from and as one of the leaders of unite
just across the road pointed out to me
we've got many a bus driver that would
like her to take a leap in front of
their
bus sorry she took a tax
oh my
goodness I'm coming on to
taxes in a big way in a
moment I don't know if she took a free
taxi ride I do
know that Dame Tessa jow to give her our
full name will do nothing to stop the
driving out of the working class from
London I know that she'll do nothing to
stand up against the party machines to
be a person of independent mind like Ken
Livingston was Ken Livingston won an
election as an independent and I intend
to win this election as someone outside
the
political process the political class I
don't take orders from anyone and
neither did Ken the only interests that
I will be pursuing are the interests of
ordinary londoners whoever stands
against them let me read you why I am
standing for mayor of
London I have lived in London for almost
35 years in Black Heath in battery in
stram in the East End in ladbrook Grove
and now in
nw10 three of my four children were born
in London and all four grew up here my
first child is now the mother of four
all born in London like many londoners I
was not born here but I regard it as my
home and I think of London as the
greatest city in the world I was a
London Member of Parliament for five
years in Bethel green and bow between
2005 and and
2010 and in
2004 I stood for the European Parliament
constituency in London and some of my
comrades are in the hall this evening
who stood with
me respect was just 20 weeks
old and I achieved almost 100,000 votes
11 years later we have to multiply that
100,000 500 600
700,000 is the Target that we have and
with second preferences from the labor
candidate in third place that can take
us over the winning
line I have been elected to the British
Parliament six times served there for
the best part of 30 years and want to
bring the political experience of nearly
four decades to bear in fighting for you
fighting for
London though London is a great City the
seventh largest economy in the
world life is not great for all
londoners and it is run by and for the
Metropolitan Elite many of them dripping
in Gold whilst the majority struggle
with the High Cost of Living the
shortage of affordable housing cramped
and expensive transport
and Savage Cuts in public services which
have the support of all three of the
soall mainstream parties it is time for
a London for all which will be the theme
of my campaign we will fight for your
interests wherever you came from
whatever color you are however you pray
or if you don't pray at all we are
against all racism
anti-Semitism
islamophobia and for Unity amongst all
londoners irrespective of age gender
color creed ability or
orientation London's transport will be a
major issue in the election our policy
on fairs Staffing levels investment
disabled access airport expansion will
attract transport users and providers
alike financial services are an
important part of London's economy but
the interests of the city cannot be
allowed to blight those of the vast
majority who have other interests
London's reputation cannot be allowed to
be tarnished by the excesses of the city
Mal feance cannot be allowed free reign
in the financial heart of the capital
that's why if I'm elected I will merge
the city of London Police into a New
London police force with
responsibilities to all londoners and
which looks like London and if the city
of London Police don't like it I'll send
the Metropolitan police's serious Fraud
Office in in numbers to investigate
their affairs
the city and other corporate interests
in
London will have to do more much more in
the exercise of their social
responsibility to The londoners Who live
and work around them and who provide the
whole environment in which their
businesses are thriving we understand
businesses need to make money even a lot
of money but with great wealth comes
great
responsibility and as mayor I will work
tirelessly to achieve that I will
campaign relentlessly for the London
living wage to take account of the far
higher cost of living in the capital and
I give notice now to all those
businesses doing business with the maral
and with the London assembly if you're
not paying your workers the London
living wage you won't be doing business
with us any
longer neither can we allow the
continuing social cleansing of poor and
ordinary working people from London
eyering house prices and back breaking
rents are driving the life's blood of
London its people further and further to
the edge literally and metaphorically
the average price of houses in London
sold to firsttime buyers is 7 and a half
times the average income London has the
second highest house prices and per
square meter rent in the world higher
than New York higher than Hong Kong and
only Monaco about which more later is
higher overcrowding in London is is
almost three times the national average
a quarter of a million people in London
are on the council house waiting list
the rate of house building is half that
of the
1960s and a quarter that of the 1930s
during the
Depression between
1998 and
2011
85,000 Council houses were were sold in
London under the right to buy scheme and
only
880 were built to replace them 880 new
Council houses in 15 years whilst
85,000 Council houses were sold Mrs
Thatcher committed many crimes against
us but the sale of council houses was
the biggest crime that she committed on
the domestic level and has led to a
housing crisis all over the country as
well as in
London now how about this it's not easy
to shock
me
50,000 families have been shipped out of
London in an act of social cleansing in
just the last three years London bers
bribing people to leave their families
leave their homes leave the streets in
which they've grown up in and moved to
Birmingham or Stoke or elsewhere in the
north because they simply cannot or will
not build the
houses or find the money to subsidize
their rents any longer and amidst all of
this we are spending 24 billion a year
year on housing
benefit a quarter of the government's
total budget deficit is being spent on
housing
benefit almost half of which ends up in
the hands of private
landlords it's
unbelievable that nine times the figure
spent on social housing is being spent
to subsidize private landlords in
housing
benefit and guess
what a quarter of the Tor MPS in the
last Parliament were private landlords
which gives you a a clue as to why this
has been tolerated the annual budget for
the building of social housing in
Britain is just
1.1
billion half of what it was in the
previous Parliament one 1.1 billion
building houses 24 billion spent on
housing benefit almost half of which
goes to private landlords virtually no
council houses are being built fewer
than 100 per
year targets for the provision of social
housing are set ever lower and less and
less frequently
achieved can Livingston had a policy
that
50% of all development must be
affordable housing Boris Johnson cut
that to
25% in fact it's less than
10% if I'm the mayor nothing will be
built in London unless 50% of it is
social and affordable housing
London
properties at the higher end have become
nothing but a safety deposit box for
Rich
foreigners they buy houses to lock up
their money in the belief that it will
make a profit far away from The Eyes Of
The Regulators in their own countries
far away from prying eyes of all kinds
in in their own countries and they never
live in those houses so let me make
another election
pledge we will compulsorily purchase any
house in London that hasn't been lived
in for one year or
more a quarter of a million londoners on
the housing waiting lists Millions
living in overcrowded housing poorly
housed are paying so much for the roof
over their heads in rents and mortgages
that they have nothing left for life so
I will tackle the housing crisis as my
number one
priority we will compulsorily purchase
and we have the power to do so any house
that's been unlived in without a proper
excuse for one year or more and as I say
there will be no development given
planning permission that doesn't include
50% affordable housing now as a man of
the world I will work to make London
more and more a world city seeking out
investment business and tourism
especially in those parts of the world I
know best Russia China Latin America and
the Arab world world I will fight for
more power for London and recognition of
its special status in its National life
this is the era of devolution which I
wholly support but I want Devolution for
London we need to be treated in the new
constitutional settlement that is slowly
taking shape with power over health over
education over tax over business rates
with real power that will allow a mayor
of London directly elected and
accountable to the people to make a real
difference in the lives of our
citizens since the
1960s London has been a cultural capital
in the world I will work hard to keep us
right on top cultural workers and cult
natural spaces will be boosted in my
maral as will be the burgeoning
high-tech sector film music games
theater and Cinema flourishing
Innovative and ground baking work in
finance with cryptocurrencies and I've
recruited the best possible Minister for
finance and economy in Max will make
London the crypto currency and alter
alternative Finance capital of the
world but tradition matters too take the
Black Cab For example we have lost our
telephone
boxes our pillar
boxes are now owned by the King of
Kuwait gives a new meaning to the Royal
Male we never knew we'd still have a
royal mail but it would be the King of
Kuwait who owned it thanks to
privatization we cannot allow Uber to
drive out the traditional London cab and
if I the
mayor if I'm the
mayor as I said on the front page of the
badge the weekly newspaper of the cab
trade this week I will run Uber out of
town if I can and if I can't yes if I
can't I will make sure that they start
to obey the law the law which black cabs
and mini cab firms are forced to obey
but which Uber is shredding in front of
our eyes why do I feel so strongly about
this
issue well it's not just because there's
25,000 cab drivers with a vote in the
election
every one of them with a husband or a
wife and children and parents and
brothers and sisters though I'd be a
pretty stupid politician if I denied
that that had any part in this it's not
just because none of the mainstream
parties will stand up for the law-
abiding taxpaying mini cab and black cab
owners and drivers and none of them will
it's not just because my own son-in-law
is three years into the knowledge on a
bike that I had to buy him and runs the
risk of finishing the knowledge and the
trade being finished before he gets here
though that also occupies my mind I
don't know what I'm going to do with
that motorbike if he Chucks it is
because of this the Uber
represents exactly the kind of no tax
unregulated cutthoat open private
capitalism that we're against in every
other
form they're supposed to have a
landline they don't have even a landline
try foring them they don't have one
they're not supposed to have meters in
the car but many of them do they're
supposed to be insured but many of them
are not and as the independent showed
this week in fact no it's not a lie no
it's not a lie the the independent you
can you can come in later you can come
in later you can Hackle you can Hackle
but but you're only doing my job for me
I'm telling you the the
independent all right sit down now and
I'll let you speak
later this is the fact as The
Independent Newspaper revealed in an
investigation this very week forging
insurance for Uber in is easier than
falling off a log and many of them have
done so they have no a cab driver is
forced to buy a certain kind of vehicle
costing £40,000 an Uber driver can turn
up in any kind of vehicle a cab driver
has to show that he's a person of good
character who's thoroughly checked his
driving records thoroughly checked his
personal behavior is Thoroughly checked
he's stopped on the street by a
transport for London officials his car
is checked the cleanliness is checked
none of that is true because Uber
represents the kind of capitalism that
Johnson and Cameron represent and the
ends up the ends
up ends up like Alton Towers ends up
like Alton Towers you see red tape
health and safety the usual targets of
the right wing are there to protect the
public and the public will always be
protected if I am the mayor of
[Applause]
London and I have thought for a long
time that way too little has been done
to remember the sacrifices of londoners
when this country stood alone with
Hitler and fascism at the channel ports
and the blitz raining down upon us I'm
one of those who does believe this was
our finest hour so if I am the mayor
every year there will be a Battle of
Britain weekend a mix of solemnity and
fun 1940s Street parties dressing up air
shows exhibitions film and music of the
era a recreation of the spirit of the
blitz I believe this will bring all
londoners together wherever they came
from and however newly they arrived it
will remind the young of a defining
moment in the history of this country
and of London and remind newcomers of
the greatness of the London
they are now an equal part of I hope you
will support my campaign and that of my
respect colleagues standing for the
London assembly which will be elected on
the same day few know anything at all
about the London assembly members now if
respect gets a foothold at City Hall you
can be sure that will change we will
occupy City Hall and we will open it for
the people a London for all a London for
all its people thank you very much
indeed for coming to this launch today