The mayor must speak up for ambitious Londoners and for businesses — not call for further restrictions
Sadiq Khan is arguably under more scrutiny — and subject to some of the harshest criticism — than any politician in the country.
Much of it is unfair. London remains a city with an illusion of a mayor, rather than one with the power to make decisions for the good of the city and its residents. Steps in the right direction, like handing City Hall the skills budget, are too slow in coming. It is nonsense that a global city like the capital — the driver of the country’s economic engine —does not have a mayor with serious tax-and-spend power.
And some of the criticism is tinged, more than tinged, with racism. From the moment the head of a far-right organisation — both he and his organisation aren’t deserving of the recognition of being named — turned his back on the mayor the night of his election in 2016, Khan’s position has been used as “proof” by all number of racists, bigots and xenophobes that London has somehow fallen.
Read more: Sadiq Khan warns further restrictions are ‘inevitable’
In truth, the election of the first Muslim mayor of a major European city, a south London-born son of a bus driver, was a sign of how open, tolerant and meritocratic this wonderful city is. The fact that for so many of us it didn’t even occur that it was a historic moment is proof of that.
So it gives me no joy to say that at the time of London’s greatest crisis in a generation, Sadiq Khan is failing the capital.
Last night’s statement from the mayor’s office was the final straw. Just hours after Prime Minister Boris Johnson had outlined the three-tier system, with London mercifully spared further restrictions, any momentary clarity was blown out the water by City Hall’s warning that new curbs could come “as soon as this week.”
Central government’s communications strategy has, to put it politely, been ill-judged throughout the pandemic. It is not possible to defeat a virus by confusing it with headlines. It is not possible to save the economy with mixed messages on working from home.
But a three-tier system, under review, with London in the lowest category was about as close to clarity as we’ve ever received.
Until the mayor stepped in. It is not the first time the tone seemed off — somehow out of step with the many Londoners who have their eyes open to the closing coffee shops, the dying local pub, the small cinemas and theatres who are yet to reopen after shuttering in March.
There is a strange glee to the predictions of apocalyptic doom that rubs the wrong way in a city whose abiding mantra has always been to keep striding forward, no matter the obstacles.
We are warned that “the indicators” are moving the wrong way, but we are not given the grace of seeing that data. We are told cases are rising across the capital, even as the mayor himself admits there is no accurate picture of Covid-19 cases.
We are told that the mayor understands the pain of hospitality businesses and their employees in the same press release that seems only to serve to roll the pitch for stricter restrictions on the capital that will serve as an effective death sentence on those same businesses. London is an ecosystem. If one bit of it dies, it affects the rest.
Read more: The economy or saving lives is a false dichotomy, says Khan
There is nothing wrong with a mayor who says that, on balance, the worst thing that could happen to London is a full lockdown. Khan has. But there has been precious little reasoning or rationale behind why that hypothetical doomsday scenario demands further regulations that would knife the city as we know it anyway.
And aside from the tone, the practicalities — a small theatre in south London is trying to sell tickets to its first shows post-lockdown this weekend. It’s tough enough persuading people to stump up cash in the middle of a recession to sit in a (Covid-secure) room for two hours; it’s nigh on impossible when the mayor is openly predicting that you might not be able to go.
London is in trouble. Real trouble. It needs a mayor who will stand up for the capital to central government, and explain to Londoners the strategy for moving forward with some semblance of London left after this pandemic.
Endlessly repetitive press releases blaming Downing Street are empty, hopeless gestures, serving only to poison a relationship that needs to be productive if the capital is to get what it needs.
Where is the lobbying campaign for exemptions on rates, for a specific London recovery plan, for Whitehall to get behind the golden goose with resources and energy before it conks out and takes the rest of the country with it?
Where are the calls for innovating the tax system, or giving young people who are barely at risk more latitude under the restrictions?
Millions of people have come to London to innovate, build lives and families. They are bursting with energy. Khan is right to call for proper support if a lockdown comes but these Londoners cannot be stuck on some kind of purgatory furlough for months on end – they will give up, and they will leave, and the capital will be poorer for it.
If this great global city goes into hibernation, it may not wake up.
Cleaners of empty offices, cabbies and Uber drivers, bar workers and sandwich makers. Youngsters fresh out of uni, trying to build careers.
Many of the most vulnerable Londoners are on the brink – of losing their jobs, of failing to make the rent, or of packing up and leaving. Will the mayor speak up for them?
Read more: Bailey calls on Mayor to get back to work