Happy Easter from the City Hall Conservatives!
PLUS: Andrew Boff AM's campaign to save our corner shops...
Despite City Hall being in recess and the treat of a long weekend, your City Hall Conservatives have been as busy as ever hammering the Labour Mayor on crime, as well as local issues such as the “Rainham Volcano”.
Read on to find out what we’ve been up to - but first, we’d like to get in early and wish you all a very happy Easter.
SAVE OUR CORNER SHOPS!
With many shops closing or operating on reduced hours over the Easter weekend, it is a fitting time indeed for Andrew Boff’s latest column on corner shops. London’s newsagents perform a vital role, providing people convenient access to essentials like food and utility top-ups. Sadly, little is being done to help them, with corner shops being impacted by a toxic mix of spiralling costs: soaring business rates, brutal energy bills, wage hikes and the Government’s national insurance rise.
KEITH PRINCE AM VISITS THE RAINHAM VOLCANO
In Rainham, East London, tonnes of illegally dumped waste have been burning for years, spewing what residents describe as “toxic smog” over the area. Over the years, London’s Fire Brigade has attended hundreds of fires at the site, and according to The Guardian, rates of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, a severe lung condition have been on the rise.
The site is so dangerous the firefighters are not allowed to enter it, lest they be swallowed by sinkholes or injured by dangerous waste lurking underground.
Keith Prince AM visited the site of the “Rainham Volcano” and is calling on the Mayor to get a grip and take action. The problem will, of course, take money to fix - but the residents here deserve action.
POLLING SHOWS SADIQ KHAN’S FAILURE ON CRIME
It has long been known that Sadiq Khan is failing to get a grip on crime. Of 1030 Londoners polled by YouGov earlier this year, 56% believed that London is less safe now than it was ten years ago, with just 5% of respondents believing that London is now safer. London’s relentless increase in high-volume crime, and the low probability that the perpetrators will be caught, is having consequences for how safe people feel London is.
When asked if they believed the Mayor of London took the issue of phone theft seriously, nearly two-thirds of respondents believed the Mayor did not take the issue very seriously or seriously at all (63%). Even among those who voted Labour in the 2024 General Election, 48% believed the Mayor does not take phone theft very seriously or seriously at all.
Neil Garratt AM’s report, Tackling London’s Theft Epidemic, makes several key recommendations that would make our city feel more safe. You can read the report by clicking here.
