London mayoral election 2016: Labour candidate Sadiq Khan wants business leaders shaping City Hall policies
Business leaders should help shape policy decisions in City Hall, Labour mayoral candidate Sadiq Khan said today as he revealed his plans to appoint a business advisory group.
Khan, who has pledged to be the “most pro-business mayor of London yet”, said his advisory board would be made up of independent business leaders, not political appointees. He also said half of the board’s members would be women.
Khan proposed the board as he launched a “roadshow” for small businesses with shadow Treasury minister Seema Malhotra.
“Seema and I are great believers in the potential of small business,” Khan said. “We want them to grow, and create well-paid, skilled jobs. We want to know from them what we can do to help them flourish.”
“We don’t pretend to have all the answers. We want to crowdsource the best ideas to help London’s businesses to grow from the experts – businesspeople and entrepreneurs.
"Our advisers will be independent business leaders – not political appointees, or those who have been supportive of Labour.”
Separately, Khan’s campaign attacked his Conservative opponent Zac Goldsmith yesterday, saying All Star Leisure, a company which Goldsmith part-owns, fails to pay the London Living Wage.
But Goldsmith’s campaign hit back by pointing to a recent listing from Khan for an administrative assistant role, with hourly earnings below the London Living Wage.