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I want to be straight with Londoners about the situation we face: first, because of the global economic crisis that has left us with a fragile recovery that may go double-dip.
And, second, because we have a government removing billions from our economy and planning cuts on a scale that we have not seen for decades.
The majority on middle and lower incomes will be forced to pay, while a rich few will be protected. We can see it already, with child trust funds cut; employers' National Insurance contributions held down but employees' contributions to be raised; ten thousand fewer university places; hundreds of millions axed from spending on schools; and the uncertainty in London about the future of Crossrail.
I want to be Mayor for one overriding reason. If I am elected my focus will be to do everything I can to protect Londoners from the recession and the effects of the Government's policies.
I will use every lever to make sure our quality of life is protected and improved. Not a Mayor who spends his time defending bankers and instead one who will use mayoral budgets and powers to protect ordinary Londoners.
I would overhaul London's budget priorities in favour of Londoners as a whole, not hedge-fund managers or polluters.
One word symbolises the issue — fares. Under Boris Johnson, a single bus fare by Oyster has risen by a staggering one third, as has the price of a weekly bus pass.
Instead of Johnson's wasteful projects, the expensive reduced-capacity “new bus for London”, the obsession with academy schools, the zany floating airport in the Thames Estuary, we must concentrate on defending public services and holding down fares.
A higher charge on the minority of gas-guzzling cars driving into the congestion-charge zone would raise millions to protect the fare-payer. Why should people in Bromley, Barnet or Barking pay higher fares when the worst polluters in the city's centre are protected?
If we want to defeat the problem of gun and knife crime, anti-social behaviour and gang culture, we need to halt the present short-sighted policy of cutting police numbers. And I will give a clear guarantee that all 640 neighbourhoods in London will keep their dedicated local team of beat police officers.
I will redirect investment in skills and training to creating jobs and apprenticeships for school leavers and graduates.
I will speak for the whole of London. Boris Johnson ripped up plans for better transport links such as the extension of the DLR to Dagenham Dock, a new river crossing for south and east London, and the extension of Croydon's Tramlink. Some of the biggest single Tube fare rises were on Londoners travelling from outer London. His plans to slash Tube ticket-office opening hours and cut staff will hit stations in outer London hardest. Tram fares in Croydon, where I am launching my campaign today, have risen steeply in line with bus fares.
I will press the Government for powers to raise money on the bond markets to build affordable homes, including for rent, to break the back of the housing shortage and create work.
It's clear that at the outset of the recession we needed to call together every key player in London's housing world to hammer out an emergency policy that could see us through.
Energy and environment policy must focus on helping household budgets. I will cut energy bills by improving insulation in every building in London over 10 years, creating thousands of new jobs.
Just as the economic and political situation is changing, so is the world economy. Londoners' future prosperity depends on relations with dynamic developing economies such as China and India. This work is neglected. I will change that so that we fight to make London the gateway to Europe for the most important centres of new economic growth.
And I want to use the lessons of city mayors from around the world who are using smart technology to improve services. To achieve this I will need a broad, inclusive team — a true progressive coalition to defend London against government cuts.
Boris Johnson is preoccupied with what he will do next. My focus will be on the day job. I will only have one job, unlike Johnson, who works as a Daily Telegraph writer paid £250,000 a year, a salary he calls “chicken feed”. He gave himself a five per cent rise in his mayoral salary. His chief executive got a 12 per cent boost, crashing through the £200,000 barrier. I will take no pay rise during this four-year term if I am elected Mayor and I will institute a four-year pay freeze for all senior mayoral appointments at City Hall.
Unlike the current Mayor who refuses to answer questions, I will endeavour to answer the Assembly's questions properly and hold regular press conferences.
Losing a job you love is painful. But as well as spending more time with my family I have been able to talk and listen to Londoners and engage with them — as I've found on my weekly LBC radio-phone-in.
Now I want to put those experiences into effect to contribute to the future direction of our city.
The 20 key figures backing my bid to be Labour's candidate for Mayor today show that London Labour is ready to unite to help London get through hard times. I will use the campaign for the nomination — starting today — to urge as many Londoners as possible to join Labour.
Two years from now, David Cameron's Government will have hurt many people. To secure the best for Londoners in hard times, we will need a different approach. Labour voters, Lib-Dem, Green and Respect voters, young, old, black, white, Jewish, Asian, straight, gay, acting together to put Londoners' interests first.
Serious times require serious solutions that protect Londoners. To protect public services in London, create new jobs, make the streets safer, hold down fares, and build more affordable housing.
That's why I'm running for Mayor.
Reader views (19)
Sorry Ken You were probably useful once but you have passed your sell-by date now. Old Labour is dead and buried. You and your ilk have brought our country to the brink of collapse - just like you did with Lambeth Council and later on the GLC. Thank God Mrs. Thatcher closed it down when she did. We seem to have managed wonderfully well without it though. Just retire and bring up your children.
- Amber in Mitcham, mitcham, 15/06/2010 19:29
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So Ken's planning a comeback? Sounds like the whisky talking. Hopefully Labour won't be stupid enough to endorse a washed up pseudo-socialist as their next candidiate, will they? Fans of Ken have short memories, like when he asked 'Landoners' if they wanted the Western extension (at a cost of £1.5m of public money) and then he ignored the majority. Do we want 8 more years of that?
- mike stern, north london, 03/06/2010 00:30
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Dear Ken,
You've had your day and made a mess of it, time to go away quietly.
Perhaps you could go and sit next to all those other die hard socialists like Prescott, the Kinnocks, etc. in the House of Lords?!!
Rgds,
- Frank, Home Counties, England, 02/06/2010 10:31
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Ken Livingstone is about as relevant today as Arthur Scargill. He's a relic from a bygone age of class politics and should fade away into well-deserved obscurity. The Evening Standard is making a huge mistake backing this irrelevant dinosaur.
- Trus Wrodbrochen, London, 02/06/2010 09:35
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i would not urinate on ken if he were on fire
- terry sullivan, morden england, 02/06/2010 06:46
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Bore off Ken, you're the last person this country needs in these austere times. Shouldn't you simply accept that the socialist model is essentially a ponzi scheme? You throw money around to buy votes and then you throw some more and so on until someone else has to come in and sort it out.
- ST, London, 01/06/2010 20:37
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Yet again the Boris supporters ignore the millions of pounds he has wasted in the name of dogma -
The so called new bus for London (which has no relevence to the Routemaster) is just a modern bus with a hole cut in the back and with a need for 2 staircases (thats right 2!) carries less passengers than a normal modern double deck bus.
While millions have been wasted removing Artic buses that are only 7 years old a process than has meant on route 38 a route that had 50 routemasters which bacame 47 artics (with a massive increase in capacity) now has 80 buses and the same waste is happening as other routes like the 18,25 and 149 come up for re-newel.
As for the Western C-Charge well Boris has had 2 years in office and has only just started the first consultation on its removal. And given the present financial situation its removal is even less affordable!!
Look at the Overground network and remember that was of Kens making and had he been re-elected the Thames Gateway Bridge may have been already under construction while instead closures of Blackwall Tunnel mean chaos for drivers in East London with no relief in sight.
- Melvyn Windebank, Canvey Island, Essex, 01/06/2010 18:49
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Everyone cares few can afford too!!
- Overtaxed, Farnham UK, 01/06/2010 17:02
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the doughnut election results clearly, and unambigously demonstrate that London did not feel Livingstone was a mayor who cared for all its people.
It was Livingstone's neglect of those not in inner city boroughs that led to his humiliating defeat.
- scotty, london, 01/06/2010 15:59
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And another thing....just looking at your picture in the headline makes me want to puke....look at it....reedy lips...smarmy chops...self satisfied....odious of breath...clammy....vile... repugnant...just waiting to tell another lie.....go away now...please
- Terry davis ......the guvnor, london east, 01/06/2010 13:17
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Ken,
Do yourself and everyone else in London a favour.
Go away!
All of the points you raise above are your fault, coupled with your pals in the Labour party you have managed to bring this country to it's knees.
The congestion charge is not fit for purpose, drive into London and pay for the priviledge of sitting in the same amount of traffic as 10years ago thanks to Ken's rephasing of the lights.
Creating jobs for young people Ken? Don't bother. After 13 years of socialist PC conditioning kids are unemployable, fit for nothing but the dole queue because they don't understand the real world.
Gun and knife crime Ken? A byproduct of your love of multiculturalism.
And pray tell Ken. Which governments policies do you think London needs protecting from?
My money is on 13 years of PC stupidity when the common sense facts of life were ignored by your beloved Zanulabour.
Just go Ken, you have done enough damage to our once great city you pathetic excuse for a human being!
- Jimbob, Kensington, 01/06/2010 13:02
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Boris will hopefully have more control to deal with crime now that we have a new government, I think this is how it works?
- M, London, 01/06/2010 13:01
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Ken, I can hear violins playing!
When it comes to wasting money, nobody comes near you. You couldn't care less if working class London families faced council tax precept rises to fund your vanity projects such as London's 'embassy' abroad and firework display extravagazas (very eco friendly).
Some very poor people had to pay the Kengestion Charge to get to work, while you enriched the public service predators at Capita. Others were surcharged to pay for callouts by delivery and service companies, who had had to pass on the charge.
Drivers of lower-MPG cars already pay excessively more in fuel and road taxes, and I suspect wouldn't drive in London if they had a viable alternative.
We haven't forgotten how your socialist mate Bob Crow kept trying to bring public transport services out on strike.
Now please remind us who got him onto the Board of Transport for London, Ken, along with others who of course were appointed purely for their transport expertise (e.g. the gay and lesbian issues adviser).
The truth is you took Londoners for a ride, Ken, and we will not give you another chance to rip us off.
- Jools, London, 01/06/2010 12:59
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i voted for ken last time and will again the extended congestion zone should be kept not ended.we would have had tram systems given the go ahead if he was still in power.our cities need to be greener not go back to i car i driver private cars in our major cities.
- c may, bromley, 01/06/2010 12:51
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As everyone knows, the reason fares have had to go up was because you left a giant sinkhole in the transport budget. Unlike Liam Byrne you didn't have the honesty or integrity to leave a note in your drawer that there was no money left and that the gaping hole would consequently have to be filled by fare rises.
You should let London move on and desist from becoming like some STD that simply wont go away.
- Andy, London, 01/06/2010 12:47
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Ken.. i voted for you twiice but after your two terms of office I couldnt bring myself to do it a 3rd time...how dare you talk about protecting Londoners financialy !!
What we want is to be protected from nihilistic young thugs on the streets...never once did you address young black thugs turning our streets into no go zones...you took our money to fund recording studios...like everyone of them was going to be a rapper...you made lame excuses re knife crime,,exclusion, deprivation etc & whenever questioned about this seemingly relatively new phenonoma you stated we always had violence to this degree & you cited teddy boys & skinheads....if you believe this then you are a out of touch bufoon who as no right to be mayor....once again your writing for "a facist rag...your words Ken not mine...no Ken you & your ilk have turned London into a much nastier place look at the statistics for knife crime the last 2 yrs of your tenure & compare last yrs ...Boris` 1st yr...go away & tend to your newts ...you liar
- Terry davis the guvnor, london east, 01/06/2010 12:38
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Care, to give us job creation! We really welcomed the fallout! Left the private sector just to end up one day getting de-skilled in one of your organizations and the bullying if you stepped outside of your box and did anything to improve efficiency as a minor or dare make a suggestion re. improving good practice! Glad I was never welcomed for too long in any public sector job. The name equalities really has an ironic meaning in an organization under your direction!
But you got the votes! And the things you showed to do well, you were mayor at the time, what else were you there for but to get a few things right at least!
- M, London, 01/06/2010 12:32
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Sorry Ken, but it's time that you realised your time has come and gone.
I'll agree that Boris, likeable buffoon that he is, is not the best Mayor we'll ever have - but then neither were you. I didn't believe a word that you said - and never will.
If your misplaced vanity insists that you be back in the public limelight, in a position that alludes to some kind of power, why don't you hand over a few quid to your mates in the Labour Party and get a peerage.
Lord Newt and Lord Lard could be the (pseudo) aristocratic versions of Laurel and Hardy.
- Peter M, Abu Dhabi, UAE, 01/06/2010 12:31
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Ken, the reason I voted for Boris is because you and your city hall clique did not represent me in any way. You lied and lied throughout your tenure as mayor: about the cost of having a mayor, about the buses, about fares, about the precept, the olympics, etc.
You kept your old muckers in high-paying non-jobs when the rest of us were struggling. If they couldn't have jobs they had 'grants' which were never audited.
The only help I would accept from you Ken, is to return all the precept I paid when you were mayor.
You said "I will press the Government for powers to raise money on the bond markets to build affordable homes, including for rent, to break the back of the housing shortage and create work." Really?
Why didn't you do that when your own party were the government and when you were actually the mayor?
- SarahN, London, UK, 01/06/2010 12:15
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