Gareth Thomas announces he’s running to be Labour’s London Mayoral candidate

Gareth Thomas, the MP for Harrow West, has officially announced he will be running to be Labour’s candidate for London Mayor.

Earlier this year, Thomas indicated that he might throw his hat into the ring. Now it appears he has. He has stepped down from his shadow ministerial positions (both as a member of the shadow London team and as shadow minister for Africa and the Middle East) to focus his attention on his bid to become Mayor.

Setting out what shape his campaign would take, he told the Guardian that he thinks more power should be transferred away from Westminster:

“The one thing I agree with Boris Johnson about is that the mayor should have more control over property taxes. I also believe we need more resources for sorting out our own school standards and our health service needs.”

He also said he would form a  mayoral housing company to “champion social housing” and he would use his powers to get property developers to build more affordable homes. Thomas added that he thinks passengers should have more power to hold Transport for London to account.

In making this announcement, Thomas joined Diane Abbott, Sadiq Khan, David Lammy, Tessa Jowell and Christian Wolmar in the race to be Labour’s candidate for the position.

Applications to be Labour’s candidate close on the 20th May and the shortlist will be announced on the 13th June. The result will be announced on 13th September.