On 2 May, Londoners will vote in the latest mayoral election. Labour incumbent Sadiq Khan is running for a third term against rabid Tory candidate Susan Hall.
Despite the capital’s shiny reputation, the stark crisis of British capitalism means that London’s streets are more likely to be paved with a food bank queue than with gold.
London has the highest rate of child poverty and homelessness in the country, with 39% of children in the city growing up in poverty, and 1-in-50 Londoners sleeping rough.
In his eight years in City Hall, Khan hasn’t advanced the conditions for London’s workers one inch. All he has to offer is empty words and promises.
This explains why ordinary Londoners have no enthusiasm for this upcoming election. Workers understand that none of the options on the ballot will make a fundamental difference to their sinking living standards.
Housing crisis
The situation for Londoners is bleaker than ever, with a rampant housing crisis and a shocking increase in people sleeping on the streets.
What is Mayor Khan’s solution? He previously pledged to build 40,000 new homes by the end of the decade. But under his watch, in 2023, house building in the capital hit a record low. Meanwhile, 350,000 people are waiting for affordable housing, and thousands are left homeless.
Sadiq is again promising to end rough sleeping by the end of 2030 – just as he did in 2016. But since he was first elected, the numbers forced to spend their nights on the streets have actually risen by 71%.
At the same time, 87,000 properties sit empty in London, lying idle as cash cows for the rich. Seizing these properties could end homelessness in one fell swoop.
No friend of workers
Khan regularly trumpets his working-class credentials as the son of a bus driver. But the reality is he is no friend of working Londoners.
The Labour Mayor was able to conjure up £30 million for TfL (Transport for London) back in January. But this was only after transport workers voted for strike action. And this extra funding will certainly be paid for by workers with cuts elsewhere.
Lest we forget, this is the same careerist who, in 2016, declared that he would be the “most pro-business mayor ever”. Meanwhile, Khan is happy to allow the Met Police to harass, intimidate, and arrest protestors opposing the ongoing Israeli genocide in Gaza.
It is clear on which side of the barricades Sadiq is really on.
Law and order
The Tory Party’s mayoral candidate, Susan Hall, has even less to offer.
Attacking Khan for the city’s rise in crime, Hall is promising £200 million extra funding for the police, alongside the installation of metal-detecting knife arches in schools, in order to “bring order” to the streets of London.
In truth, this election will solve none of these questions: neither increasing homelessness and the exorbitant housing crisis, nor the scourge of violent crime.
The root of all these problems lies with the poverty and deprivation that is deeply entrenched in the capitalist system. And neither Khan’s hollow promises nor the Tories’ ‘tough’ rhetoric will tackle this.
Capitalist nightmare
There is no genuine alternative for working-class voters, in the capital or elsewhere.
Tens of thousands across the city struggle daily to feed their kids or keep a roof over their head. This is the real nightmare that ordinary Londoners face.
Only through united class struggle to completely overthrow this decrepit system can we end this catastrophe once and for all.
You CAN shape London’s future, by joining the Revolutionary Communist Party today! pic.twitter.com/prjoXIxPDZ
— The Communist ☭ (@revcommunists) April 30, 2024
