Lib Dem London Mayoral Candidate, Rob Blackie, launched his campaign yesterday with a pledge to ‘fix the Met’.

Credit: Sillett Photography

The event took place at Pop Brixton, located in the neighbourhood where Rob has spent much of the past 20 years raising his family.

Rob told the media and a group of close supporters that Sadiq Khan does “not deserve” a third term due to his record on crime. He also dismissed the Conservative chances, accusing the party of giving up on London after selecting a Trump-backing candidate.

He added that Sadiq Khan’s failure on crime is the reason he is standing as mayor.

In his speech, he talked about the struggles Londoners are facing with the cost of living crisis and rising crime. With him as Mayor, City Hall would be building houses for social rent, sorting out the Met, changing the culture within the Met and meeting climate change goals.

The full text of the speech is below:

As a child…

I remember living underground.

At least, that’s how it felt.

A basement flat… very little daylight.

It was small. But it was warm, it was dry.

And it was safe.

Mum wasn’t rich. But we had enough to put food on the table.

And we got to go on holiday every year.

But today… too many Londoners don’t have even those basics.

Too many Londoners struggle to pay the bills.

They’re stuck in temporary housing.

And they feel unsafe when they walk our city’s streets.

Only by standing for election…

Only by fighting for what we believe in…

Can we make change happen.

It’s a huge privilege to be your Liberal Democrat candidate for Mayor of this great city.

And make no mistake – we’re up for this fight.

Because Sadiq Khan does not deserve a third term.

And the Conservative Party doesn’t believe Susan Hall has the slightest chance of beating him.

She’s an ardent supporter of Trump.

And of Truss.

Forms of politics that have no place in our capital.

You look at every poll – and it shows Tory support plummeting in London.

While Liberal Democrat support is already double what we scored in 2021

There has never been a better time for a strong, distinctive Liberal Democrat campaign in this great city.

There hasn’t.

There really hasn’t.

An opportunity for us to win the hearts and minds of millions of Londoners…

Who are looking for change

But have no time for today’s Tories.

Now, you may ask…

“Rob, why are you standing?”

“And why are you standing… in a race the Lib Dems have never won?’

I’m standing because I believe in this city!

I’m standing because I’m from this city!

And most importantly, i’m standing because I believe our city could be doing

So… much… better.

My absolute top priority for achieving that change is Crime & Policing.

Now, some believe liberals don’t care about crime.

They say we’re somehow ‘soft’.

More bothered about conditions in prison than conditions on the streets.

Well, not from where I’m standing.

I remember walking home from work, one night – years ago.

A dark street, not far from my flat in Vauxhall.

I was surrounded by a group.

Now, back then, I was into kickboxing. I was used to being hit – so I didn’t give up my bag.

But as I fell to the ground, I saw one of my attackers pull something from his jacket.

It was shiny.

It was hard.

And when he hit me, it hurt.

When a doctor tells you your head’s floating on a mess of broken bones…

When you’re told you’re lucky to be able to walk – and lead a normal life…

It’s not something you forget.

And if you’re the victim of a violent crime…

It’s something you’ll always remember.

Today, my neck is fixed with titanium.

And yes, it’s thanks to the brilliance of our NHS.

I was broken. But I was lucky.

Too many Londoners aren’t that lucky.

Too many suffer from the brutal, dark reality of violent crime and sexual assault.

And Sadiq Khan’s failure on those issues is the main reason I’m standing in this election.

Violent crime… UP… 30% in the last eight years.

Sexual offence clear-up rates down 50% in the last eight years.

Right now, in this city… police stations don’t even have enough freezer space to store vital forensic evidence!

I’ve seen this first-hand.

Police officers… scrabbling around on the floor through hundreds of samples trying to find the right one.

In the words of one serving police office – quoted in Baroness Casey’s report on the Metropolitan Police, published last year:

“If you look at our performance around rape, serious sexual offences, the detection rate is so low you may as well say it’s legal in London.”

“You may as well say it’s legal in London.”

And all the while, our Mayor focuses scarce police resources…

On searching people for cannabis.

And for laughing gas cannisters.

A million stops and searches for cannabis in the last five years alone.

A million!

While the miserable catalogue of violent crime goes unchecked.

How much better police time, energy and resources could be spent.

In a Liberal Democrat London

*

Because make no mistake…

This is Sadiq Khan’s record to defend.

No-one else’s.

He is London’s Police & Crime Commissioner.

He appoints the Deputy Mayor for Policing

He runs the London Policing Board.

He sets the police budget.

The buck stops with him and we will call him out in this campaign.

Friends, governing is about choices.

In a Lib Dem London, let’s focus police resources on serious crime. It’s as simple as that.

Yes the right-wing press will argue cannabis and laughing gas should be the priority.

But let’s face them down.

Political leadership is about saying what you believe, even when it’s tough.

I learned that most of all from Charles Kennedy.

I worked closely with him in the run-up to the Iraq war.

When Charles and all 62 Liberal Democrat MPs stood strong against the rush to conflict.

People forget now what a brave decision that was… to oppose that war.

Labour and the Conservatives called us unpatriotic.

Some MPs called him ‘Chamberlain Charlie’.

The Sun called him ‘a spineless reptile’.

But to stand against the Iraq War was what Charles believed was right.

Likewise, our stand against Brexit wasn’t always popular.

We were among the ‘saboteurs’ – but I still believe it was right to fight in the last ditch for London’s place in Europe.

And I still believe London was let down by Labour when they failed to speak up for people on the most important issue of our generation.

Just look at the intolerance.

At the bile that has spilt since that fateful referendum day.

When I was growing up in London, it was commonplace to play on the street with my neighbours, whether it was a refugee from Vietnam or an immigrant from Spain.

I grew up making friends from all over the world – without ever leaving home.

Because this is a global city.

Romanians, Italians and Bulgarians who moved here to work with me in advertising.

Zimbabweans who fled Mugabe’s tyranny, and Somalis who fled war.

And in my own family, like so many others, people who just moved for love.

That is the London I love.

That is the Britain we want to get back.

Recently, I received treatment for cancer – successfully, I am relieved to say.

My oncologist was from Greece.

Supported by nurses from India… and from Spain… and from Trinidad.

We talk about the NHS saving lives.

But the lifeblood of the NHS is not the organisation.

It’s the people who work in it. And we need to draw them in and hug them close, not drive them away.

But we’re seeing London’s tolerance constantly under attack.

Politicians from George Galloway to Suella Braverman talk up, rather than damp down conflict.

Anti-semitism. Islamophobia.

Cynics trying to set community against community, neighbour against neighbour – even child against child.

Black Londoners and Asian Londoners…

Suffer appalling racism.

And what do the Conservatives do?

Well, not very much.

Except say “Thank you” – if you’re one of their bigger donors.

A Liberal Democrat vote in May…

Is a vote to keep London as the most diverse, cosmopolitan and welcoming city on Earth.

In a Lib Dem London, EU citizens will know they are safe.

That’s why we’d give them a City Hall endorsed “London Passport” to confirm their rights.

Black Londoners will know that as Mayor, I will work night and day to reduce the terrible impact of crime on their lives.

And I want ALL Londoners to know that I will always stand up against racism and division in our city.

Now, the reason we stood up for London in Europe is that we know the big challenges of the future require countries to act together.

Nowhere more so… than on climate change.

I’ve worked on environment issues my whole life.

I trained as an environmental economist – and worked on elephant conservation programmes in Namibia.

By involving local people with conservation, we saw the elephant population increase by 12,000.

Some of these elephants, ungratefully, almost squashed me.

But I loved that time in my life, and it reminds me how precious our natural environment is.

Today’s Mayor claims to have the same instincts.

He said he would be London’s ‘greenest ever Mayor’.

But in reality, Sadiq Khan is using power at City Hall to build a MOTORWAY under the Thames – the Silvertown Tunnel.

The “Sadiq Khan Motorway”

A £2bn project for a Thames crossing that not a single cyclist or pedestrian can use.

Building that tunnel was his call.

Can you imagine a worse own goal for the environment?

And there’s more.

In 2016, Sadiq promised he’d plant two million trees in four years.

In fact, he’s managed barely a quarter of that.

In eight years.

His excuse?

Well, in his book he writes:

“Always do your homework before announcing a policy”

What does that say about Labour?

What does that say about the broken promises of Labour AND the Conservatives?

For years in charge of this city?

Failure is the norm.

They just hope no-one will notice.

A Liberal Democrat City Hall would be different.

Honest

… about what we can achieve.

About the things we’ll get done.

Starting by using the power of City Hall to build more green homes.

Social homes. Private homes to rent. And homes young Londoners can buy.

And for existing housing, we’d get more solar on people’s roofs.

We’d dramatically expand electric car charging points.

And we’d bring in a raft of new allotments to boost birdlife and biodiversity.

And we’d stop Thames Water leaking sewage in the Thames and all of its tributaries.

In a Liberal Democrat London, our city would be…

Safer

Greener.

And truly open to the world, playing its part in protecting the planet.

We need to focus our police force on actually cutting crime

Not randomly stopping citizens in the street.

We need to focus City Hall on public transport, pedestrians and cyclists.

Because new motorways and new runways… have NO place in London.

So that is our offer.

As my friend Charles Kennedy would put it:

‘A real chance for a real change’.

And he’d be right.

Because Sadiq Khan has failed.

And Susan Hall is beyond the pale,

Far from embracing London, she attacks it.

…liking tweets that call our city Londonistan and venerate Enoch Powell.

Does she even like London?

She certainly doesn’t love our great city.

When the Conservatives chose her as their candidate, they gave up on this election.

So I call on all Londoners…

If you care about cutting crime…

If you care about a greener city…

If you care about the neighbourhoods in which your children grow up…

Even if you’ve never voted Liberal Democrat before…

Vote Liberal Democrat this time.

Liberal Democrats have won in London before.

We can do so again.

Seize this chance.

Back us this time

And let’s get our capital bac

k!