Sir Keir Starmer has said that he would ‘work together’ with Sadiq Khan to make sure they can ‘deliver on much needed promises’ to improve London’s transport and housing. These include an extension to the London Underground, progress on Crossrail 2, and a new ‘metro-style’ TfL commuter rail system.
Voters will go to the polls across the country on July 4 to vote for their local MP at the General Election. The Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak, and his rival have been touring the country, attempting to garner support.
However, speaking to MyLondon at the launch of his party’s ‘battle bus’ in Uxbridge this morning (June 1), the Labour leader – who is MP for Holborn and St. Pancras – did not explicitly promise to provide the extra cash that the Mayor of London says he needs in order to expand the Bakerloo line to Lewisham, bring some National Rail lines under TfL’s control and get going on the north-south successor to the Elizabeth line.
READ MORE: General Election seats to watch as Labour hope to take key constituencies
Asked if he would ensure TfL received the extra cash that the mayor says he needs, Sir Keir said that Sadiq Khan has ‘got the right priorities for London’, and these were ‘vindicated’ at the mayoral election on May 2. He added that a Labour government and mayor working together would be a ‘game changer’ for the city, a phrase also used by Mr Khan.
The Labour leader claimed that the Tories had used the Mayor of London as a ‘thing to fight and deal with conflict’. Asked specifically about money, Sir Keir told MyLondon: “Well look, we will work together.
“He has got good plans on transport. He’s got good plans on housing – one of our missions is to build 1.5 million houses – working together with the mayor and we can deliver on these much needed promises for the country.”
Tiny Tory majority in Uxbridge
The Conservatives won the seat of Uxbridge and South Ruislip at a by-election last year. The constituency is a Labour target, as Tory Steve Tuckwell MP will have to hold on to a tiny majority of 495 votes.
Labour’s bus has 35 seats inside. It is ULEZ compliant, according to TfL’s vehicle checker.
During a speech to party activists and assembled media, Sir Keir joked that a fridge inside the vehicle needs checking to see if Boris Johnson were inside as he ‘used to be around these parts’. He also called the Tories’ national service policy the ‘teenage Dad’s Army’.
The Home Secretary, James Cleverly, told MyLondon earlier this week that a national service would have a positive impact on young Londoners. He said: “It’s really sad that when you hear sometimes that young people don’t know, or [are] not comfortable in the company of other young people from the next door postcode.
“And I’m absolutely convinced that people coming together from different communities, different backgrounds, learning more about each other, recognising there is so much more that makes us similar than makes us different. I think that will have a positive effect on loads of things – unemployment, on crime, on community tension, on all these kind of things.”
Starmer ‘doesn’t stick by anything he says’
After the London mayoral result was officially declared at City Hall on May 4, a spokesperson for Tory candidate Susan Hall’s campaign said: “We fought a campaign on common sense conservative principles, and defied the polls. Hard work, grit and determination, embodied by our candidate, Susan Hall, boosted our vote significantly above the parties polling in this great City.
“Our message overperformed, our candidate won over hundreds of thousands of Londoners with a plain speaking honest campaign.”
MyLondon has approached the Conservative Party for additional comment. Mr Sunak said during the launch of his party’s ‘battle bus’ this morning: “He [Keir Starmer] doesn’t stand for anything himself… he doesn’t stick by anything he says.”
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