Will Sadiq Khan Be A One-Term Mayor?
This article on the BBC is entitled Donald Trump Hits Out Again At Sadiq Khan Over London Violence.
I don’t like Trump or many of his policies one bit and if in the unlikely chance, I was invited to meet him, I would decline.
But I’ve met many people, who think we need someone like Trump to stand-up for the man on the Clapham Omnibus.
I have two personal criticisms of Sadiq.
The Unaffordable Fare Freeze
The fare freeze he proposed, that must have impressed a large number of voters, has not been something that London can afford.
Now important projects like the rebuilding of Camden Town and Holborn station have been delayed.
He’s A South London Mayor
To my mind, Sadiq seems to favour his home territory over the North.
- In the North, we seem to have suffered more from cuts in bus frequencies.
- He was very slow to act on the problems with the Gospel Oak to Barking Line.
- Knife crime and violence seems to be worse in the North, so is it Mayoral neglect?
It is probably understandable, as his mates in the South have more chances to bend his ears and you don’t annoy your friends.
I wonder if Ken favoured the North!
I do think though that various effects are working against his reelection.
The ULEZ Effect
The London ULEZ currently only applies to the Congestion one, but from 2021, it will apply to all areas inside the North and South Circular Roads.
How many voters, who will be affected by the ULEZ extension, will vote for Sadiq?
The Brexit Effect
Sadiq has nailed his colours to Remain and is regularly interviewed about Brexit.
Most right-of-centre Brexiteers wouldn’t probably vote for him, but some traditional Labour boroughs voted to Leave, so could his support for Remain cost votes.
On the other hand, if Brexit has happened and going badly, will Sadiq gain votes?
The Next Prime Minister Effect
If Boris becomes Prime Minister, this would be an imponderable. It might help or hinder Sadiq’s reelection.
The Crossrail Effect
The late delivery of Crossrail, is not Sadiq’s fault, but it will have four effects.
- The late delivery will ffect London’s transport budget and give the Mayor less money for projects.
- Some people will view his oversight of the project as incompetent.
- He won’t be able to bathe in the glow of a successful Crossrail.
- It is a ready-made millstone to hang around his neck.
There will also be many Londoners, for whom, the late delivery of Crossrail caused a financial loss and they will vote accordingly.
The Trump Effect
I would expect, Trump to keep up his criticism of Sadiq.
Who’s to say, whether it will affect Sadiq’s vote, but there are quite a few people, who would support Trump.
Conclusion
There are a lot of questions to answer, but I feel given the state of British politics, that we could be in for a surprise.
Could we see a Brexit, Green or Lib Dem Mayor?
The Anonymous Widower 
Interesting – firstly I don’t think the politics of our country should be commented on by Trump, who I dislike intensely, or indeed the leaders of any other country. It is none of his business. That aside, Manchester also has violent crime problems. Both here and London there seems to have been in the past a pattern – there was a lot of gun crime, it was cracked down on and there became a lot of knife crime and it was cracked down on and the acid attacks started, thankfully acid crime was short-lived. We are back to gun and knife crime – and in Manchester there have have been occasional instances of deliberately running someone over with a fast moving car.
I honestly believe we are missing the point. We need to put a huge effort into dealing with the causes of these violent crimes. Some, probably a majority, involve criminal gangs, some just gangs of people, and some just kids – a young teenage boy was stabbed in Hale Barns a few weeks ago, I honestly can’t remember if he was killed or survived. Hale Barns is not where you would expect violent crime. It is very very affluent, lots of footballers, actors, millionaire business people. From what I remember the boys who carried out the stabbing were from another part of Manchester, which is rather less affluent. I don’t know any more about this crime really. But why are kids going round stabbing other kids in affluent parts of Cheshire? What can be done about gang violence? There are projects in various cities which are dealing with gang related crime really well. Why can’t national government fund these types of project in every town and city which has gang issues. It would save lives and money. Ditto drug use. Certainly in schools, kids are told that drugs are “bad” and they shouldn’t try them. Then their friend gives them a puff on a joint and they find the adults have lied to them, actually it feels great. And of course each kid things they won’t get addicted. But having found a minor drug fun, they then go and try a line of coke, and find the same thing. Majority of the recovering addicts I know say that is what it is like. Many addicts dropped out of school early, or got into drugs soon after school, may not have got the drugs education anyway. Some work needs to be done to find out why kids who are on paper a high risk of becoming gang members, drug users etc etc because of the places they live and their life circumstances choose NOT to go down that road – what stopped them, and then that needs translating into projects to get that message across to other kids so they don’t start either.
Who is the London mayor doesn’t particularly affect me, but I hope Andy Burnham stays Manchester mayor for a while because he is doing some good work in deal with homelessness particularly. Despite things not always working, through no fault of his. I have spoken though to some of the street homeless people of Manchester (yes I know most middle class middle aged ladies don’t do that, but I am not your typical middle class middle aged lady). Some of them avoid the hostels because they risk being robbed, raped, or catching something from a sick person. They feel safer in a doorway. Prevention is crucial. Our nephew had massive social problems, and Neil and I who ended up sorting the mess out evicted him from his grandmother’s house when she went into a care home, and got him into a project for young people who can’t live with family of origin but aren’t yet ready to live on their own – he was 19 at the time. It was the making of him, he has done well, can now keep a job, pay his rent etc. Tough love, and it was a heartbreaking thing for us to do. But with a lot of support and prayers from all and sundry, it worked.
I seem to have written an essay – sorry!
Comment by nosnikrapzil | June 16, 2019 |
I think that good public transport makes a difference. It helps the young get to jobs, which often are not close to where they live. They also mean when they are bored, they prrhaps go and visit someone, rather than hang around causing a nuisance. It certainly looked like that happened here, when they built the Overground and brought in lots of new buses.
There’s nothing truer than the Devil makrs work for idle hands!
Comment by AnonW | June 16, 2019 |
Forgot to click the box to notify me of other comments, so adding this bit.
Comment by nosnikrapzil | June 16, 2019 |
How can you blame mayors for crime when Tory austerity has reduced police numbers by 20k? https://www.nytimes.com/2019/02/01/world/europe/uk-police-crime-austerity.html Also programs to help youths stay away from crime have been cut.
Comment by William McIntyre | June 16, 2019 |
It seems President Trump tweet was addressed as Mayor of City of London who is not Sadiq Khan who is Mayor of Greater London but the Mayor of the City of London who controls a seperate police force and is normally visable at the Lord Mayors Show in November!
The real damage to London police was wrought by Mayor Boris Johnson aided and abetted by Home Secretary Theresa May who cut police numbers and closed police stations.
The biggest irony was on today Sunday Politics London we had Theresa Villiers trying to fight to retain her local Barnet Police Station yet she didn’t object when her Party were closing police stations in the rest of London!
I do think that Khan is making a mess of London bus services something that will affect large numbers of people when they return to work tomorrow and find they can’t get a number 4 to Waterloo something that has existed since horse pulled buses !
Comment by Melvyn | June 16, 2019 |