Why I’m Voting For Sadiq Khan
I discuss the upcoming London Mayoral election and why I have decided to vote for Sadiq Khan.
On May 2nd - people in many areas of the country will have the opportunity to vote in local elections. I remember last time around when I was at university in Birmingham, voting in the West Midlands Combined Authority election - where Andy Street secured a second term as Mayor. It remains unclear who will win, with polling showing Street is certainly not guaranteed a third term, with Labour’s Richard Parker performing well. Street is doing all he can to distance himself from the Conservative brand, which is more unpopular than ever, but it remains to be seen whether he has done enough.
I have to say I always liked Mayor Street. Sure, I may get some stick from tribal lefties for saying that - but I think it’s always important to consider the person, the individual in question, as opposed to being so tribal. Street seems like a decent man - and he has done many good things for West Midlanders, such as rolling out a bike hire scheme, like the one we have in London. I would be sad to see him lose.
But this time around - I’ll be voting in the London Mayoral election, as like many people - I reluctantly moved to the city due to what I found to be the relative lack of opportunity outside it.
I was very disappointed to learn of the change to the mayoral voting system, forced on London by the current government. Previously, there was a ranked choice voting system (supplementary vote), where you could have a first choice and then a back up, of whom your vote will be reallocated to, on the chance that your first choice was eliminated from the contest. This time around - it’s first past the post. One vote and only one vote.
If we still had the more democratically fruitful previous system, my decision would be easy. Have the Greens as my first choice, with Labour’s Mayor Sadiq Khan as my second. That way I could vote for who I wanted, but still have the reassurance that I could tactically allocate my second choice vote to stop Susan Hall from having a chance of getting the keys to City Hall.
But even though the Green’s candidate supports rolling out Basic Income trials, which is important for me - I just can’t shake the fear that it could just open the path to victory for Susan Hall. As Mayor Khan says - due to the new voting system - it really is a two horse race between him and the Conservative Susan Hall. I just don’t feel comfortable taking that risk.
And Mayor Khan has done some good things, such as building more homes than any other London Mayor, and was faster than most of his Labour allies to call out Israel’s actions in Gaza. He even rolled out the controversial ULEZ policy - which I think is absolutely crucial to tackle London’s outrageously high levels of air pollution. That alone will save lives.
Susan Hall on the other hand has made it her pledge to scrap ULEZ on day one. Not only would this be a disastrous decision for the climate, but also for public health - as it would lead to unconscionable levels of extra toxins in the air we all breathe.
There’s so much more I could say about Susan Hall - and why I think Khan is by far the preferable choice. But I almost feel as if it is not necessary to get into the weeds any further. I think Susan Hall would be disastrous as Mayor and would cause untold damage to London. And I say this having met Susan. I bumped into her in the street in Soho - and she was friendly and personable. That however, doesn’t negate what she stands for.
As a quick somewhat depressingly humorous aside - Hall doesn’t even know how much it costs to hop on a London bus! This may seem minor - but for me, it just reeks to being absolutely out of touch.
That is why I am voting for Sadiq Khan, even over the Greens who I am probably more aligned with in general. Opening the door to a Susan Hall mayoral term by voting for the Greens is not a risk I am willing to take. The real villain of this being the government for changing the electoral system in the city. All this talk about local elections is making me even hungrier for the general - but that’s another story.
That being said - if your local area is also holding elections - just get out and vote for whoever you think best represents your interests. I spend lots of time talking politics on here - but the most important thing is to go and vote for what you believe in - or be tactical and vote to keep lunatics out of office. If you don’t do that, quite simply, you don’t have a right to complain about the state of politics.