As the Labour Party prepares to make devastating cuts to disability support, the Mayor of London has remained conspicuously silent. While Labour leaders in other parts of the country have spoken out, Sadiq Khan has so far proved content to more or less toe the party line.

Yet with hundreds of thousands of disabled Londoners set to be hit by sweeping cuts to Personal Independence Payment, whatever his political calculations may be, there is still no excuse for Sadiq Khan failing to step up now as Mayor and use every lever at his disposal to engage and support disabled Londoners in response.

Disabled people are already feeling abandoned and scapegoated by Westminster. Now, more than ever, London’s Mayor should be charting a different course — not with vague pledges or sympathetic soundbites, but with meaningful, decisive action and engagement.

One demand has come up again and again from disability rights groups: appoint a dedicated Disability Champion in City Hall. Someone with lived experience, real authority, and the mandate to ensure disabled voices are not just heard occasionally but embedded in every stage of policymaking.

Over 1.2 million disabled Londoners face daily, systemic barriers in accessing their own city. They deserve leadership with focus and accountability. This isn’t a matter of symbolism. London has a Commissioner for Walking and Cycling. Why not one for disability equality?

That’s why, working with Inclusion London, I introduced a motion last September calling for exactly that. It passed unanimously – backed by every party in the London Assembly. Yet nine months later, the Mayor has done nothing whatsoever to implement it. He insists his Deputy Mayor for Social Justice is “good enough,” despite repeated feedback from campaigners that it isn’t.

Because all too often we still see a total failure across GLA bodies to include Disabled Londoners. Take the “Towards a New London Plan” consultation, a flagship planning strategy launched without accessible formats like Easy Read or British Sign Language versions, excluding both people with learning disabilities and deaf Londoners.

That’s not an oversight, it’s a structural failure rooted in a policymaking process that continues to exclude. And this isn’t just a disability issue. Accessible design benefits everyone — from elderly residents and parents with pushchairs to people recovering from injuries. After breaking both my legs in a car crash, I saw first hand how needlessly difficult London can be to navigate on crutches. A more accessible city is a better city for all.

So what’s the holdup?

Appointing a Disability Champion is straightforward, high-impact, and backed by public support, campaigners, and a unanimous Assembly vote. The Mayor has everything he needs – except the political will.

Worse still, the situation is regressing. When we reintroduced today in the Assembly, Labour Assembly Members who had supported it the first time chose to abstain. The needs of disabled people haven’t changed. But Labour’s commitment clearly has. Labour’s Assembly members are no more prepared to stand up to the Mayor, than the Mayor is prepared to stand up to a Labour government.

But as cuts to support make life even tougher for disabled Londoners, words without action will ring hollow. If Sadiq Khan is serious about building a fairer, more inclusive London, he should prove it – and he can start by appointing a dedicated Disability Equality Champion to put lived experience where it belongs: at the heart of City Hall.

* Hina Bokhari is the Liberal Democrat Leader on the London Assembly and the most prominent elected Muslim within the Liberal Democrats.