Originally published by The Glass Gonad
A year has passed since Sadiq Khan became Mayor of London, and personal polling would suggest that he is still popular among Londoners. That popularity comes as no mystery. Having campaigned for Remain during the referendum, single market access post-Brexit and further government action to address air pollution, the Mayor has appealed to cross-party mantras in the capital.
The Mayor’s office would also link Mr Khan’s popularity to his delivery of cornerstone campaign pledges, such as the Skills for Londoners fund and the Hopper fare for bus users.
Yet with knife crime soaring, the Tube staggered by strike action and an increasing number of workers struggling to purchase homes or rent on-the-cheap, critics argue that the Mayor has failed London in his first 12 months.
Here is the Gonad’s assessment of Sadiq Khan’s performance across five key policy areas:
Economy
Since Britain voted to leave the European Union, the Mayor has kept the City sweet by lobbying the Government — asking them to negotiate single market access for the capital. Although this would appear to be an unlikely outcome, the financial district and London’s exporters will feel they at least have a representative in Mr Khan.
On a local level, the Mayor has rightly called for further devolved powers over taxation; enforced payment of the London Living Wage for public sector workers and introduced a Skills for Londoners fund that will prepare the young for the digital workplace.
But, by clamping down on Uber on behalf of change-resistant cabbies, the Mayor has shown a willingness to throw roadblocks in front of innovative start-ups if it is politically savvy to do so. If he is to act in the best interests of the capital’s consumers going forward, Mr Khan must have no qualms about telling entrenched interests to get out of their hole or be buried.
Housing and Planning
The ambitious foundations of Sadiq Khan’s plan for affordable housing have collapsed. His manifesto target of 80,000 new affordable homes a year has — by tweak and by turn — become a voluntary affordable housing target of 35% for new developments.
When Mr Khan’s office was touting the construction of 20,000 new homes (65% of which would be affordable) it was revealed that some of those developments started under Boris Johnson, the Mayor’s predecessor.
As if in conciliation, the Mayor has been quick to establish his rogue landlord database and homelessness task force. Yet without progress being made against the extortionate rise in London house prices, these policies are merely painting over rot.
Crime and Policing
Scotland Yard figures released last month showed a 42% rise in gun crime and a 24% increase in knife crime in the capital. At the end of the month, six people died as a result of knife crime in the space of a week.
The Mayor and Cressida Dick, the new Met Commissioner, have laid this crisis squarely at the foot of government cuts. Requiring the Met to make £1bn in savings since 2010 has certainly not made their job any easier — nor has it given Mr Khan the means to increase the number of Met officers from 31,000 to 32,000 as he promised.
However, the Mayor should not be entirely absolved of blame. He has been far too supportive of the Home Office’s reduction of stop-and-search powers, and, aside from hosting a Knife Crime Summit that amounted to a glorified PR event, the Mayor has yet to produce his first knife crime strategy.
By contrast, Mr Khan’s approach to extremism has been impressive. The Lord Harris review into terror preparedness suggested wise improvements, including text alerts in the event of an attack and further investment in mobile barriers to deal with weaponised lorries.
Credit is also due for the Mayor’s statesmanlike response to the Westminster attack — particularly when you consider some of the Trumpian vitriol directed at him.
Transport
The Mayor made bold promises on transport during his campaign: a fare freeze for four years, zero public transport strikes and accelerated improvements to cycling in the city. Those pledges have fallen to the curb. His fare freeze — which he claimed would stop Londoners paying “a penny more” for transport in 2020 — does not apply to millions of Travelcard users.
As for the zero strikes pledge, that promise has been punctured several times over. Where cycling is concerned, Mr Khan has yet to unveil any new cycle superhighway schemes since appointing Will Norman as his Cycling Czar in December.
Sadiq Khan’s Hopper fare is thus far the hallmark of his transport agenda. Commuters have made millions of journeys with the fare and can show healthier bank balances for it. And, while the Night Tube may be the brainchild of his predecessor, the Mayor launched the service on five lines without crippling disruptions or faults.
Environment
It would be unfair to judge Mr Khan on the basis of air pollution alerts earlier in the year — no one Mayor can be expected to undo the effects of climate change in the space of 12 months. That said, Sadiq Khan has expended a lot of time and political capital on tackling environmental issues.
He announced earlier this year that the ultra-low emission zone would come into force in April 2019 — a year earlier than planned — and be extended to cover the North and South Circular roads. The Mayor has also introduced a T-charge and plans for a low-emission bus zone that should set an example for public transport networks. Mr Khan has also put persistent pressure on the Government to clean up its own act, even going so far as to draft a letter to the High Court demanding publication of the Government’s pollution plan be brought forward.
The Mayor does still have a way to go on dealing with London’s pollution crisis. It remains unclear whether he has planted a single tree of the two million he pledged to sow by 2020 and diesel-powered black cabs will still not face charges for travelling in the ultra-low emission zone.
***
Sadiq Khan’s first year at City Hall has not been a success. Where he has shown he is capable of handling the capital’s economy and environment, he has underachieved by failing to deal with the three core challenges of his mayoralty: sky-high house prices, expensive rail fares and the menace of knife crime.
If the Mayor takes another look at his manifesto, and replaces PR stunts with concrete policy, he might have a better record to stand on in 2020.
Comments