Summary of Pledges:

  • Education and Youth

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    By 2015 London will be short of 70,000 primary school places.

    I will ensure that 167 new primary schools are built by 2015 and limit new schools to two classes of entry each year to ensure a focus on individual children.

    There has been a collapse in faith in the admissions system for Secondary Schools. I will overhaul access to Secondary Schools to make it fairer and more transparent for parents.

    Too many young people leave them ill equipped for work or for further education. I will work with teachers and employers to ensure young people have the right skills by the time they leave school.

    I will appoint an independent Education Commissioner for London to oversee this work, to drive standards upwards and to ensure the focus on education never lapses.

    I will be calling for London's libraries to come under control of the Mayor and I will be working with Councils to share the costs and to redevelop them as dynamic resource centres. I will explore the use of libraries for delivering council, police, post office, advice and other services to make them an even greater asset to communities and ensure their financially sustainability.

    I want young people to feel they have a real stake in this great city, not a marginalised or feared minority. I will give young Londoners a voice at the heart of City Hall, appointing a Young Mayor for London and create a new Youth Assembly. These won't be token appointments; but rather they will ensure that public policy reflects the needs and the aspirations of young people

  • Create jobs and boost economic growth

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    There have been too many allegations of financial mismanagement at City Hall, often relating to the vanity projects most loved by Ken and Boris in their time. Sometimes those allegations have been unfounded but they still do harm to the reputation of London's systems of government.

    As mayor I will establish an Independent Office for Budget Responsibility to ensure the Mayor of London uses their budget wisely, challenging City Hall when spending fails to deliver the value taxpayers should rightly expect.

    I know how hard it is to find a job, a situation made worse by high transport costs, which unemployed Londoners simply cannot afford. Let's give jobseekers the help they deserve. I will provide free travel for jobseekers and reduced fares for low earners.

    For the whole of the UK, London is the goose that lays golden eggs. We contribute £20bn to the UK economy because this is one of the best places in the world to do business. London's future depends upon long-term investment to keep its economy strong, including supporting infrastructure projects like Crossrail 2 and 3. We will scrap the £60bn Boris Island vanity project and instead support the expansion of Heathrow Airport, while maintaining strict limits on sound and emissions. This will deliver an extra 60,000 jobs in London without the need for any additional public money.

    The economy is worse than ever for young people, who are experiencing continental-level unemployment rates. The Mayor has to lead the turnaround if we want to avoid losing a generation of productivity. I will work with councils and businesses to ensure apprenticeships effectively deliver real employment and career prospects. My mayoralty will see increased diversity of apprenticeships and other training schemes, by promoting them to members of the black and minority ethnic communities, as well as to young women. My administration will work with businesses, schools and colleges to improve pre-apprenticeship training. It will work with landlords to make better use of empty commercial property, including temporary use for community projects and for entrepreneurs to trial their ideas, negotiating Business Rate discounts and exemptions for innovative new businesses.

    London's economy needs greater diversification by ensuring that we take maximum advantage of government backing of industrial priority areas. My initial priorities will be the support of the creative industries and the life sciences sector.

  • Create housing and make better use of space

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    The London housing market is distorted by demand internationally and from across the UK. Already people are spending half their income on housing and, unless something is done now, within a generation few Londoners will be able to afford to live in the city of their birth.

    As Mayor I will institute a radical plan to reset London's housing market and end the era of slavery to extortionate rents and mortgage payments. My administration will use GLA owned land to create a fixed price housing market, harnessing private capital to deliver at least 20,000 £100,000-£150,000 homes to market each year. These homes will be in a regulated secondary market with nominal appreciation each year and in the event of sale would remain in the regulated market. Rents will be set at a fair proportion of the regulated value. This will open the possibility of home ownership in London to people on the average wage. Housing Benefit claims in these homes would be slashed.

    I will use the new housing powers of the Mayor to target unused and derelict buildings for new housing and to help owners of empty homes to bring them back into use.

    My mayoralty will see the introduction of a private rented sector property MOT to prevent landlords profiteering from tenants without providing a proper service.

    As an independent Mayor I can work more effectively with Councils to offer space in underused public buildings to charities and other public-benefit organisations.

  • Improve transport in London

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    I will make transport fares fairer by freezing fares until at least April 2014.

    To help get people home safely, and to support London's nightlife sector, I will keep tubes running one hour later on Friday and Saturday nights. I will make the transport network more accessible and user-friendly for everyone, including tourists, people with disabilities and older people.

    I will reduce congestion by charging companies for digging up roads and introducing smarter charging in the congestion zone. The Thames is the equivalent of a low congestion 8-lane highway. We will create an affordable River Boat Service running between Putney and Greenwich.

  • Build better, safer neighbourhoods

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    With allegations of racism, partiality and political interference, public trust in the police who protect us risks going into freefall. I will improve policing and rebuild a culture of mutual respect between the police and the public by implementing a full, external and independent review of policing covering culture and performance as well as financial efficiency. In doing so I will ensure that Londoner see the police as their resource and support them accordingly.

    I will protect the most vulnerable Londoners by providing safe havens for people under threat of violence or abuse.

    I will require Councils to identify and address residents' top five local issues. I will ensure coordination and progress reporting across all boroughs in London is done effectively.