How not to run a city or a country
hours on July 21st last year, Piccadilly Circus’s advertising hoarding provided the perfect symbol of Sadiq Khan’s eight years as mayor of London. The 5,500 individual”. It was the pinnacle of Mr Khan’s “Say ‘Maaate’ to a Mate” campaign, which encouraged young men to call out sexism by their peers.
Mr Khan came to office largely by default, as most likely will Sir Keir. The Conservatives dismiss London as a hotbed of liberal luvvies even though it is also a city of bankers, lawyers and accountants in million-pound houses. Mr Khan’s re-election will come via apathy rather than affection. In the run-up to London’s mayoral election on May 2nd, he enjoys a 25-point lead over his opponent, Susan Hall, a little-known, scandal-prone local Conservative .
Winning by default can lead to caution. A timidity haunts both Mr Khan and Sir Keir. The mayor’s main achievement has been extending the Ultra Low Emissions Zone —inside which pollution-heavy vehicles incur a levy of £12.50 a day—to all of London, including its car-loving outer boroughs. Yet Mr Khan pushed on largely because it was seen to be uncontroversial; barely 5% of cars are affected. The backlash hurt him.
Labour is in danger of repeating Mr Khan’s mistake. It talks boldly about planning reform, for instance. Yet the proposals are thin. Tweaks to existing legislation will be favoured. Fundamental problems with the planning system—that it allows erratic case-by-case decision-making by local politicians—will remain. Tinkering with a system causes just as much political pain as a wholesale change, as Mr Khan found withBoth Sir Keir and Mr Khan let opponents set the terms of debate.
Likewise Rachel Reeves, the shadow chancellor, has pledged to abide by the Conservatives’ fiscal rules almost wholesale, while matching their farcical post-election spending plans pound-for-pound. Labour has promised to radically improve Britain’s public services without spending extra money. What is the result when a politician promises change without the means to pay for it? Usually, a billboard emblazoned “Where Mr Khan has been bold, it has often been belatedly.
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