London’s four main mayoral candidates took part in a hustings yesterday in South Bank organised by a coalition of disability groups.
London’s four main mayoral candidates took part in a hustings yesterday in South Bank organised by a coalition of disability groups.
The two-hour question and answer session saw disabled members of the public, as well as representatives from MENCAP, RNIB and Leonard Cheshire Disability, pose questions to the candidates.
The topic of debate moved quickly and often to the subject of transport, questions about the freedom pass, the dial-a-ride scheme and public transport staffing.
Liberal Democrat candidate Brian Paddick made his views on disabled people clear: “Disabled people need to be protected from hate crime.”
He added: “I have been tackling prejudice and discrimination all my life and more needs to be done to create a level playing field.”
Labour candidate and previous mayor Ken Livingstone often steered his answers towards the government’s fare and taxation policy.
“The government’s economic strategy is not working, the government has got it wrong,” he said.
He later added: “We have the highest fares in the world, why? I think this is wrong, lets put money back in people’s pockets.”
The Conservative candidate and current mayor, Boris Johnson, kept calm but often found himself on the back foot.
When being criticised by Mr Livingstone for underspending on the London Underground he said: “The gentleman [Livingstone] wants to wind me up. You can’t go around promising money to anybody.”
He went on to add: “Yes, we do need to make sure our stations are staffed. What you can’t do is take a further billion pounds from them. We have to make economies.”
In a typical display of candidate rivalry, Mr Livingstone and Mr Johnson found themselves debating each other rather than the audience.
Mr Livingstone at one point appealed to the audience with feigned sincerity: “You can’t blame Boris for being busy, he has had a book to write.”
Green Party candidate, Jenny Jones, kept her party manifesto at the forefront of her answers.
Among her priorities were to create 150,000 apprenticeships and to increase staffing on the London underground.
In an attempt to unsettle Mr Johnson, in the final minutes of the hustings Mr Livingstone appealed to the audience: “Do you feel you are better off than you were four years ago?”
To which the majority of the audience swiftly cheered, “Yes!”
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