Diane Abbott officially declares she’s running to be Labour’s candidate for London Mayor, as nominations open today

Diane Abbott is officially launching her mayoral campaign today.

Abbott announced back in November that she was planning on running to be mayor and she recently created the Twitter account DianeforLondon but today she will officially declare that she’s running.

The MP for Hackney North and Stoke Newington who increased her majority to 25,000 on Thursday has in the past said that she would like to be an genuinely independent minded mayor, who “is not in the pocket of the party leadership. I think Londoners, actually big cities generally, they want a Mayor that is not just directed by party bosses.” 

The Evening Standard has reported that her campaign will focus on dealing with inequality and the shortage of affordable housing, while also highlighting the importance of working with business to overcome these issues. Abbott has also today spoken out against the argument that Labour lost the election for being “too left wing”. In an article in the Guardian she has pointed out that Labour’s policies on immigration and their “failure to challenge austerity” were not leftwing.

Meanwhile, regarding her mayoral bid, Abbott told the Standard:

“Hard times call for a campaigning Mayor. Now more than ever our city needs a Mayor who will stand up for the interests of those increasingly left behind.

“But, as the MP for Hackney, I have always worked to bring all our communities together. And that is the kind of Mayor that I will be.

“Above all I will be the genuinely independently minded Mayor that London needs.”

Nominations for Labour’s candidate open today. Others running to be Labour’s candidate include David Lammy, Christian Wolmar (the only non-MP who looks like they’ll stand) and Tessa Jowell, who has just changed her Twitter to read in the following way: