Mayoral candidates clash at BBC debate – BBC News

Mayoral candidates have clashed over violent crime, affordable homes and road use during a BBC London debate.

Conservative Party candidate Susan Hall accused incumbent Sadiq Khan of not accepting responsibility for London’s failings.

But Mr Khan said he was confident if Labour were elected into government, he would be able to go further.

Liberal Democrat candidate Rob Blackie and the Green Party’s Zoe Garbett were also on the panel.

Hosted by BBC London Radio presenter Eddie Nestor, the candidates were asked questions from the audience on a range of issues.

The debate started on the topic of policing – only a handful of people in the audience said they broadly had full confidence in the Met Police when asked.

Mr Khan said the issue of trust in the police was something that kept him up at night however he did not respond on whether he accepted responsibility for its problems.

Instead, he said he would treat crime like it was public health by “dealing with the infection and stop it spreading”.

Mr Khan said he would do this by investing in youth clubs and providing more mentors for young people.

Ms Hall, who accepted the findings of the Casey report which found evidence of institutional racism, misogyny and homophobia in the Met Police, said her solution to crime would be to “go back to borough-based policing so there’s better accountability”.

Tilisha Goupall saw her 15-year-old brother die after being stabbed in 2017. She asked candidates what they would do to stop Londoners being killed as a result of violent crime.

Rob Blackie, whose manifesto priority is fixing the police, said he would bring police back on the frontline and scrap stop and search for cannabis as it was a “total waste of time and ruins the relationship between the police and community”.

He has also pledged to double the number of sexual predators that will be caught by creating a new Sexual Offences Unit.

Zoe Garbett said one of the greatest problems was the police were not tracking whether a crime was misogynistic and that was “making women have no trust”.

Ms Hall, who accused Mr Khan during the debate of pointing misogynistically at her, said she would tackle violence against women by appointing a women’s commissioner.

For many Londoners, housing – be it soaring rents or the lack of affordable properties – is a key issue in this election.

None of the audience felt confident that more houses will be built, despite pledges from all the candidates that they will do more.

Ms Garbett said she was one of those Londoners who could not afford to buy a property in the area she was a councillor in.

To fix the problem, she said she would want to see the government implement rent controls and would create a rent commissioner that could “loudly call” on that to happen.

Ms Hall, who pledged to build more affordable homes, took aim at Mr Khan on the number of houses that have been built while he has been mayor during the last eight years.

“You keep talking about the number of homes you have started, but starts mean nothing,” she said.

Mr Khan, whose manifesto launch focused on housing, said he was confident that if there was a Labour government, he would be able to do more.

He has pledged to build 40,000 new council homes and provide free legal advice to tenants with “unscrupulous” landlords.

On transport, Susan Hall was quick to tell people that “Ulez (Ultra Low Emission Zone) is absolutely still a thing” and that she was focused on “ending the war on motorists” and committed to scrapping the expanded Ulez zone on day one.

She added 20mph (32 km/h) roads were “dreadful” and agreed with audience member Paul Kirby, a black cab driver, who said the city was in “gridlock”.

A number of people in the audience said they were still feeling the financial impact of the expanded Ulez and would want it scrapped.

Ms Hall clashed with Ms Garbett who said she supported Low Traffic Neighbourhoods as it “kept children safe”.

The Green Party candidate added she was a “fan of road charging” and would consult London on a pay-per-mile scheme if elected. Her manifesto priority is on improving public transport.

She has pledged a flat tube fare so passengers would pay the same regardless of whether they were travelling from Zone 2 or Zone 6.

The debate on pay-per-mile continued to get heated when Mr Khan was asked whether he had made a u-turn on the policy, having previously said he would like to see a road user charging system implemented by the end of the decade.

He promised prospective voters he would not implement a pay-per-mile scheme as “we don’t need it now because thanks to Ulez, emissions are down”.

Ms Hall said she was wary of such a promise as the incumbent mayor had “also agreed not to expand Ulez in the last election but did so anyway”. Mr Khan did not respond to this claim in the debate.

The Liberal Democrat candidate, who appeared to challenge the other candidates the most, said Mr Khan did not do enough to bring people with him on the outer London expansion as they only had nine months to adapt.

However, Mr Khan said there was nothing he would have done differently in hindsight and that we would find out on 2 May whether he had taken Londoners with him on his policies.

The four candidates of the largest political parties summarised their promises to Londoners at the end of the debate.

Each with 30 seconds, Mr Khan said he was focused on “what unites us rather than divides us”, while Mr Blackie said “the Conservatives don’t stand a chance and Sadiq doesn’t deserve to win”.

Ms Garbett said London’s “diversity is our strength” while Ms Hall summarised that she wanted to “see a real change” in the city she lived in.