Sadiq Khan makes promise to protect interests of Jewish voters in London

Sadiq Khan, one of Labour’s candidates in the London Mayor race, has made an appeal to London’s Jewish voters, saying he will seek to protect their interests if he makes it to City Hall. In an article for Jewish News, Khan expresses regret that Labour has failed to attract support from London’s Jewish communities over the past few years. A recent poll of British Jews showed that just 22% planned to vote Labour on May 7th, while a huge 69% were giving their support to the Tories.

Khan says the current relationship between Labour and Jewish communities is “unacceptable”. He writes:

“But it’s a matter of real regret to me that twice in recent years – in the London Mayoral election and the General Election – London’s Jewish Community has shown its dissatisfaction with the Labour Party. In the General Election I ran Labour’s campaign in London. We gained seven marginal seats but despite excellent candidates and campaigns the glaring exceptions to those gains were in areas with significant Jewish communities: Finchley & Golders Green, Harrow East and Hendon. 

“I want to be clear – a strained relationship with one of London’s most important minority communities is unacceptable. I’m determined I won’t repeat this. I would be a Mayor for all Londoners.”

The Tooting MP says that he promises three priorities for building up relations with Jewish people who live in the capital. Foremost, he says he will make combatting anti-Semitism a top police priority, following a rise in anti-Semitic crimes over the past year.

He also pledges that he “won’t be distracted into using the Mayoralty to offer commentary on foreign policy issues”. Labour’s position on Israel has been noted as one of the major topics that has led to a breakdown in support for Labour among Britain’s Jews. It also seems this promise is an implicit sign that Khan will not use the role to speak on issues outside of his remit, a common criticism of both former Labour Mayor Ken Livingstone and incumbent Boris Johnson.

Finally, the former Shadow Justice Secretary says he will make sure he works with Jewish charities in order to “bring our communities together and promote understanding”.