The party has announced that London Assembly member Caroline Pidgeon will stand for the Lib Dems in the London Mayoral election next year. Her campaign will focus on housing supply, childcare and air pollution.
Caroline said:
London is a great city, but the huge potential it offers is not available to everyone.
We need to tackle the brain drain to London’s economy caused by too many women not returning to work in part due to the high cost of childcare. We also need to end the scandal of too many young people struggling to rent, let alone buy a property.
Unless we tackle these barriers London will continue to be a city that serves the few, not the many.
London is also a city with a shameful record of air pollution which particularly affects the health of children and older Londoners, sending thousands of people each year to an early grave.
It is a privilege to be selected as the Liberal Democrat Mayoral candidate and to head up our London election campaign for the Mayor and London Assembly.
Now more than ever we need to stand up for liberal values and ensure that we deliver a Liberal London where we welcome people fleeing persecution, embrace the huge advantages of being part of the EU and ensure that each and every citizen is treated equally.
Anyone wanting to get involved to help Caroline and our Assembly candidates can sign up here.
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13 Comments
So the Khan/Goldsmiths will be campaigning to ‘Stop that Pidgeon’? 😉
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sj6-LG5VpGk
Which one of them is Dastardly and which Muttley?
Good luck, Caroline.
Wishing you every success. Andy Murray’s coach wears a T-shirt stating in large letters “MAKE YOUR OWN LUCK”.
Please note the rapidly increasing number of diesel cars being imported, emitting particulates, which should be banned.
Taxi drivers and non-taxis under UBER might dislike it, but the same applied to lead free petrol on which Des Wilson campaigned vigorously.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Des_Wilson
Has the party announced the actual results, and how many people voted for Caroline as opposed to how many voted for RON?
Or is it going to be like the 2014 Deputy Leadership election result, where the numbers were never announced by the party, but were instead leaked by an MP and posted on Wikipedia after being emailed to the parliamentary party, and marked for their eyes only?
I would hope that as a democratic party, we in the Liberal Democrats could have enough trust in our members to actually tell them the results of the democratic elections they’ve just voted in.
Congratulations Caroline upon receiving the nomination as the Liberal Democrat Mayor candidate for the 2016 election.
The Ethnic Minority Liberal Democrats (EMLD) are here to assist you and your team develop BaME Conscious policies, procedures and practices that will aid you and the Assembly candidates to more effectively represent and deliver the social liberal principles of our Party, and thereby benefit the rich diversity that exists within London.
EMLD is ready and willing to assist as soon as possible.
Yours
Ruwan Uduwerage-Perera
Chair EMLD
I voted for RON, nothing personal, its just I think we have made a terible mistake. Unless some Labour MPs defect to us in the next 6 months I think we will get about 6% & one Assembly member, who will probably be Caroline. Other Elections in May may well see a Libdem recovery but they wont get the publicity.
Yes, I also voted for RON – nothing personal, I’m sure Caroline is a very nice person. But I have my doubts about her suitability for the role. And even if I didn’t have my doubts, I’d probably have voted RON anyway – I don’t believe in elections where there’s only one candidate. I realise it’s not her fault that the other candidate backed out, but it surely isn’t healthy to present members with a choice of only one candidate.
Anyway, where’s the result? Surely we as members have a right to know how many people voted for Caroline, and how many voted for RON?
All we London members have been sent is an email saying “It’s Caroline”, without any numbers. That’s not an election result. This is what we’ve been sent:
“I’m delighted to announce that Caroline Pidgeon has been selected as our Mayoral candidate.
Having worked with Caroline on the London Assembly I know what a formidable campaigner she is and what a great advocate for our party she will be over the next nine months.
Caroline is already off to a flying start – you can catch her on BBC London this morning at 8.45am, and she will be officially launching her campaign with Tim Farron later today.
Caroline has told me she wants our campaign to focus on:
Supply of housing to meet demand and the scandal of high rents
Flexibility and affordability of childcare
Air pollution
Transport fares that meet modern day lifestyles
I know that Caroline can’t wait to start campaigning and plans to visit every local party on the campaign trail as soon as possible.
Help us make sure we can produce the materials that Caroline needs to make an impact in this campaign by making a donation to her fighting fund today. (donate link)
The results of the London Assembly selection will be announced soon.
Mike Tuffrey
Chair London Region Liberal Democrats
PS Every penny you give today will go towards publicising Caroline & London Liberal Democrats’ campaigns.
London Liberal Democrats
http://www.londonlibdems.org.uk/“
Congratulations to the one and only Caroline! She’s done a fantastic job on the Assembly so far and the London Cycling Campaign (I believe) have awarded her even though she’s not seen out in the cycle routes of London. The LCC are an effective campaigning group so they must love us LibDems. They don’t give awards lightly! It will be a privilege to support Caroline and to wish her and our party every success!
Very exciting. Caroline was really good on television this evening. I look forward to delivering my old patch in Sarf London for her!
Congratulations Caroline
Sorry, but the party has just made an appalling error of judgement. Single candidate elections should have been consigned to the history books of the former Soviet Bloc long ago. Nothing against Caroline but I voted for RON and would again in any single candidate election. I would love to see the result and hope that the party does not compound the error by attempting to conceal it.
I decided to e-mail members services this morning to ask what the result of the London Mayoral candidate election. The reply was that Caroline Pidgeon won!
I do wish our party could learn that when it is in a hole it should stop digging!
Just to round things off for now, I have received an email regarding the full result from a Chris Butler at Lib Dem Towers. He states, “It will be published with the Assembly result, which we’re hoping to announce next week.”