Susan Hall: Why I am running to be the Mayor of London

Susan Hall is a member of the London Assembly and a councillor in Harrow

Last week I launched my campaign to be the Conservative Party candidate for Mayor of London. I didn’t take this decision lightly. I know that the task ahead of us won’t be easy.

Since my launch, I have been inundated with messages from members expressing their support for my campaign. But many ConservativeHome readers might be wondering why I am running and why I am the safer bet to beat Sadiq Khan.

My life as a Londoner, a Harrow girl done good, and now Assembly Member has led me to this decision. Our capital city is at a dangerous crossroads, and I want to be Mayor to set us on the right path to a London that is safer, greener, and more prosperous.

I fight Khan every single day. I don’t just believe London can be better, I have dedicated my life to making it happen. And it will happen if I am your candidate.

As the Leader of the Conservative Group on the London Assembly, I have faced Khan every month at Mayor’s Question Time, where I force him off his script and expose the truth about his failings.

Under my leadership, we exposed his manipulation of the ULEZ consultation; his appalling and inappropriate behaviour detailed in the Sir Thomas Winsor Report; and his dishonesty and misinformation on a wide range of issues.

Khan does not want me to be your candidate. When I bumped into him in a lift at City Hall, he could not bear to look at me or speak to me – I ended up chatting to his personal protection officers instead. He has real trouble with women, as we exposed recently in a compilation video of some of his worst moments. He would certainly have real trouble with me.

I can beat him. My experience on the London Assembly has made me the world expert on Khan’s weaknesses, something I sadly know better than the man himself. His tense body language when he is taken off script, the way he lambasts his team for mistakes and saps their morale, and the deep-rooted insecurity that dictates his every decision.

When we win, I can make London better.  Khan’s mess is not the first that I have had to clean up.

I stood to be a councillor in Harrow and lead the group because I could not bear to see my hometown suffer under Labour. I stepped up because I felt we needed someone to make things better. I am a Harrow girl through and through. I was born there and raised my own family there. In Wealdstone, I built a successful hair and beauty business that employed 20 local people.

When I became the Leader of the Council in Harrow, I kept Council Tax low, cleaned up the fly tipping mess left by Labour, and maintained our roads, parks, and libraries to a level that residents rightly expect.

Over the last seven years, I have felt that same pain I did before becoming a councillor, watching what Khan has done to this city.

Crime has been spiralling out of control. As a woman I know I feel the same as millions of other women do in London. I would not feel safe walking down a dark alleyway, or alone in a park. I clutch my keys in between my fingers when I walk from the Underground to my car in case I have to fend off an attacker. No woman should feel this way.

On day one of my Mayoralty, I will meet with Sir Mark Rowley and the City Hall leadership and set out a new direction for the police. This will be supported by greater investment from City Hall in my first budget, putting us on a path to set record breaking numbers for police in London.

I will reverse the closures of police hubs that have occurred over the last seven years, and set up a specialist unit within the Met to focus on burglaries, robberies and thefts, crimes that impact most Londoners all too regularly.

On housing, I will amend the London Plan to promote an increase in affordable family homes, instead of tower blocks and one bedroom flats. My mayoralty will focus on creating homes that allow families to grow. I would re-instate the Public Land Commission to tell us what disused public land can be used to build more homes that Londoners desperately need, and I will adjust the London Plan to allow developers to provide more parking spaces on site, to avoid the need for Controlled Parking Zones in surrounding roads.

On ULEZ, I will stop the expansion on day one. In its place, I will set out a common sense environment plan that targets funding in areas that have higher levels of pollution. I will work with London Boroughs rather than against them in tackling this issue.

Khan is beatable. And London really can be better. You need to choose the right person who has the strength and the experience to achieve both.

I am the safer bet and I won’t pull any punches.

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