The London mayoral election should not be seen as yet another political contest

Tessa Jowell said on the Daily Politics Show this week that she had still not decided whether to try for the Labour nomination for the 2016 mayoral London election. This reflects the position taken by the majority of prospective mayoral candidates, that they will review their situation following the 2015 General Election.

However, Ms Jowell went a step further saying that other candidates ‘should bide their time’ and not declare themselves until after the 2015 election. The thinking seems to be that this would distract from the other important elections between now and 2016 when Boris Johnson’s term ends. This is a misleading and dangerous idea. The London mayoral election should not be seen as yet another political contest but, rather, an opportunity to rescue London from its slide toward becoming a fatally divided city where greed risks choking its very lifeblood.

Last time the selection was carried out hastily and simultaneously with the leadership election which drowned out the focused debate on London that was needed. This time London deserves better. We, as a city and a party, should be undergoing a forensic analysis of the many problems facing the capital and developing a comprehensive long term vision capable of restoring London to its position in the vanguard of progressive global cities.

The situation is urgent. I have spoken at a series of CLP and ward meetings over the past 12 month and Labour members are seriously concerned about the direction that London is traveling under the current Mayor. How to deliver more and affordable housing, safer streets, better air quality and cheaper transport are just a few of the issues that are in need of urgent attention, not simply a quick ring around for flavour-of-the-month ideas following the next general election.

Tackling London’s growing housing crisis is the most pressing issue. I am presently consulting on my housing policy which I will launch at an Ideas for London Conference in June. But it is clear that we need a comprehensive house building programme with a focus on delivering a new wave of social housing. Some of this will be paid for by creating extra bands in the council tax system that would go some way to recreating the rates system abolished by Mrs Thatcher that was far more equitable than at present. We also need to look at how to assist those in the private rented sector, delivering stronger rights for tenants and allowing people that are renting to live a more settled life based on more stable rental prices and longer tenancies.

The current mayor’s housing policy is a perfect illustration of the way in which his administration is delivering a divided city. Boris Johnson is encouraging a series of major developments in places such as Battersea and Earl’s Court that will provide housing for the super-rich with little affordable to most Londoners. This strategy is resulting in a hollowing out of central London, with much of zone 1 and 2 becoming virtual no go areas for those on low incomes. Yet it is these people, often skilled but young – the type of young entrepreneurs crowding into Shoreditch – which London relies on for its vibrancy and energy.

It is imperative that we as a party engage in serious long-term thinking about London’s future. Merely ‘biding our time’ until 2015 is not good enough and will allow our opponents to sharpen their arrows while we sit idly by. Other candidates should engage now in a serious debate. Late last year, Tom Harris MP, the former transport minister, echoed this view in endorsing my candidacy, asking ‘when did politics become so safe, so cautious, so risk-averse that even someone who aspires to hold one of the most powerful directly-elected positions in the land is frightened to say so?’ We need solutions and we need debate. Far from holding back, other candidates must come forward.

Christian Wolmar is a journalist and author specialising in transport, and is currently the only declared candidate for Labour’s nomination for the 2016 London mayoral election