Sadiq Khan must APOLOGISE to this brave police officer
PLUS: Labour ignores London's nightlife... AGAIN!
Dear Fellow Londoner,
We’ve had another busy week at City Hall holding Sadiq Khan to account on many different issues – chief among them being his handling of the Chris Kaba case. We were also disappointed that Labour chose to play politics and delay the release of a report into London’s ailing nightlife. Read more below!
Chris Kaba – Sadiq Khan must apologise
Many of you will have heard of the recent trial of the police officer who shot Chris Kaba, at which he was found innocent by the jury in a matter of mere hours. Despite this, the police officer has been through two years of hell - simply for doing his job and keeping Londoners safe. He has reportedly even had a bounty placed over his head.
Sadiq Khan issued statements at the time of Kaba’s death, talking of a young life having been cut short and giving his sympathy to Kaba’s family and friends. Whilst we agree that any life cut short is a tragedy, we were appalled to see no such sympathy offered to the police officer, even now that he has been found completely innocent.
We are clear: no armed police officer goes to work in the morning wanting to shoot anybody. These officers are placed into incredibly dangerous situations and have to make split second judgments to keep Londoners safe. We should be grateful for them. It is no wonder that armed officers are choosing to hand their weapons back in – just another way in which Londoners have been made less safe by Sadiq Khan. We think Sadiq Khan should apologise – and profusely at that – for the way that he has abandoned this brave police officer.
Watch Susan Hall AM’s clip here, in which she defends our police officers.
And watch Shaun Bailey discuss the very real effect that violent gangs – which he argues Sadiq Khan is “legitimising” – have on communities across London.
Report on London’s nightlife – BLOCKED by Labour
Emma Best AM has been leading a months-long investigation into London’s nightlife, which has been let down so markedly by Sadiq Khan. In the first six months of 2023, more pubs closed in London than anywhere else in the country. It’s clear London needs radical solutions if we are to restore the great nightlife that used to partly define this city.
On Thursday, Emma presented her report to the rest of the London Assembly for a vote. The report was informed by speaking to experts and stakeholders across the industry, and contained a number of practical policies that could be implemented in the short and long term in London, which would each have given a shot in the arm for our nightlife.
Unfortunately, the City Hall Labour Assembly Members chose not to join us in voting for this report. Instead, they chose to block it and banish it to another committee period. We are clear: London’s nightlife cannot wait any longer for solutions. If Manchester can successfully revitalise its nightlife in the face of COVID and cost-of-living pressures, then our city must do the same.