Nisar Ahmad
he government have announced that the Mayoral and London Assembly elections will be postponed for a year to May 2021, due to the coronavirus outbreak. The Electoral Commission also called for local and mayoral UK elections to be delayed until the autumn to “mitigate” the spread of coronavirus.
The London election was due to take place on 7 May, with incumbent Sadiq Khan facing off against Tory rival Shaun Bailey and independent candidate Rory Stewart among others. But the electoral watchdog wrote to the government to recommend all May polls are delayed. It said such a measure would “mitigate the impact on voters, campaigners and electoral administrators”. London mayor Khan said that he would not seek to change the date of the London election. He vowed to help London through the coronavirus crisis as London’s number of infections rose to 136. “The government has taken the decision to postpone the May elections for a year,” Khan said.
“I will continue to work with the government and experts to help London manage coronavirus over the weeks and months ahead. I will always do everything in my power to stand up for London.” These are the candidates who have said they intend to stand for mayor (listed Some 5.9m voters are registered to vote in the capital with the mayoral election taking place every four years.Sadiq Khan will promise to put London on a par with Scandinavian capitals by making it a carbon-neutral city by 2030 if he is re-elected as mayor of the capital later this year.
Sadiq Khan also pledge to tackle air pollution forms part of his first major pitch to voters in the upcoming mayoral race, in which he will go up against Conservative, Lib Dem, Green and independent rivals. Khan’s strategy to go carbon-neutral forms part of his vision for a “green new deal” for London, which he would roll out during a second term. This will involve a 10-point plan that will be outlined in his manifesto before the mayoral election on 7 May. He said “My pledge to deliver a green new deal for the city with a target for London to be carbon-neutral by 2030 will help tackle the climate emergency and the air pollution crisis. “Some may say that a 2030 target isn’t achievable, but I say we can’t afford not to try. This is a matter of social justice because it’s the poorest communities that are being hit hardest,” said Khan, who became the first Muslim mayor of any western capital city when he was elected in 2016. The majority of the biggest political parties in the UK have set ambitions for the country to reach net-zero emissions by particular dates that range from the 2030s through to the 2050s.The Conservatives government have a policy of hitting net-zero by 2050 and the Liberal Democrats pledged a date of 2045. The Green party has pledged to go carbon-neutral by 2030.
Khan has said green commitments will be a dividing line between his campaign and his nearest rival, Conservative Shaun Bailey, who is behind him in the polls. A survey by Queen Mary University of London’s Mile End Institute found Khan was the first preference candidate of 43% of Londoners. Bailey is on 23%. “The election on 7 May is a two-horse race between me and the Tory candidate,” Khan told the media.
