My vision for a Conservative London – it's time to reclaim our UK capital
5 min read
Romford MP Andrew Rosindell has launched his bid for selection as Conservative candidate for Mayor of London ahead of the 2020 election. He writes: "I have entered this race believing that we can win and must win for the sake of all Londoners".
The Conservative Party in London needs change. We can only do that if the party choses a candidate who is prepared to be different. A candidate who will be independently minded, think out of the box and one who is also prepared to adopt new and radical ideas to show the people of our great United Kingdom Capital City region, that the Conservative Party is back!
I am offering London a distinct Conservative agenda to change City Hall and will challenge directly the weak and inadequate leadership of Sadiq Khan, a failed Mayor characterised by underperformance and an obsession with his own destiny and a narrative of political correctness.
As a Member of Parliament of seventeen years, representing a constituency within Greater London, facing up to the challenges and opportunities that confront our 'globalsuper city region' is already part of my daily agenda and has been since I was elected to the House of Commons as the first Conservative gain from New Labour in 2001. As the only MP in the running for Mayor and as a Conservative grassroots, campaigner with a solid and proven track record in bucking the trend and delivering Conservatives votes from all communities, I believe I am uniquely placed to turn London blue again.
Those who know me as a London activist, starting with my days as Chairman of the Greater London Young Conservatives (GLYC) in 1987, know that I never take on a campaign without being able to deliver the end result. I am not fighting for second place. I have entered this race believing that we can win and must win for the sake of all Londoners.
Sadiq Khan has failed in his core duty to keep London safe. My priority will be to tackle the blight of violent crime and knife crime in particular. I want the Police to be effective crime fighters, able to get on and do the job without being bound up in pointless process and box ticking. If we trust the Police to get on with the job and give them the tools to do it, the criminals will be the ones who will have something to fear, not law abiding Londoners.
I want to see enhanced stop and search strategies, with mandatory sentencing for the carrying of offensive weapons introduced without delay. As a Conservative MP, I believe that we cannot go on reducing the amount we spend on policing and expect there to be no effect of crime levels. Sadiq Khan failed abysmally, but as a party we must also face up to the need for more resources if we are to succeed in driving crime off our streets.
Housing across the London region and reliable and affordable transport services are also key quality of life issues that have to be delivered uponquickly. Too much time is being wasted by the current Mayor. London needs to be led by someone who has the drive and energy to get things done. Mayor Khan has arrogantly assumed a second term is in the bag. I will prove him wrong!
London needs a Mayor who believes that the post-Brexit era will work for the whole of Britain and in particular the UK’s Capital. I want to make London the free enterprise capital of Europe and the heart of global Britain. London has had enough of an agenda of managed failure and a leader with no real response to the irreversible decision by the British people to leave the EU. Khan undermines London’s confidence, while doubling his tax-payer funded PR Budget to promote his pessimistic view that London cannot succeed after March 2019. Where is the positive vision for London? We need one and I will provide it.
Coming soon: a Conservative, free enterprise, patriotic vision of our London, our UK Capital.
As Mayor of London, I will appoint a team whose focus will be to boost and promote our global prominence as a financial, cultural and business epicentre. Professionals from a talent-pool ordered to leverage our status and competitive advantage. A results-led mission will also never include a war of words with the President of the United States, who among our traditional allies we will look to for support, based on mutual respect and shared values.
As Mayor I will be looking at radical ways to cut the cost of London Government, tackling the cost and structure of current City Hall and to enhance direct accountability. We must also look at opportunities to reform regional governance by giving more power back to our boroughs, local communities, towns and villages. I understand that London is not one place, it is a patchwork of different communities formed from historic parts of the great English Counties of Middlesex, Kent, Surrey, Hertfordshire and Essex, with the City of London at its heart.
My ideas for London are new and exciting, eye catching and different, but above all are CONSERVATIVE!
Andrew Rosindell is the Conservative MP for Romford
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