Shaun Bailey: Speech to Conservative Party Conference 2019
(Check against delivery)
“Thank you, conference.
Last year, I introduced myself as your next
Mayor of London and shared my story with you all.
Well for the last twelve months I have
been meeting thousands of other Londoners, working out how I can make their
lives better.
And what I’ve found is simple. Londoners
don’t want to spend their days thinking about the Mayor of London.
Londoners want to get to work on time,
for a reasonable price.
Londoners want more houses so they can
have a corner of the city they call home.
Londoners want to breath freely in
clean air.
Most of all, Londoners want to be able
to make the most of their city in safety.
Londoners are busy, optimistic,
energetic, ambitious.
It is the Mayor’s job to make sure that
London never gets in the way of Londoners.
Conference, I could stand here and talk
to you for hours about how Sadiq Khan is neglecting to do that job.
Since I last stood in front of you last
year, more than 100 people have been murdered in our Capital city.
4k people have been stabbed, 20k people
have been sexually assaulted, 70k homes have been burgled.
In the last few weeks there have been
stabbings in Camden, Wandsworth, Croydon, Harrow, Fulham.
Just two days ago there was a stabbing
in Ladbroke Grove, where I grew up.
These are real people; real families
being torn apart. Every victim is a Londoner who has been failed by their
Mayor.
As the Police and Crime Commissioner, the
Mayor of London should spend his days working to keep Londoners safe.
But Sadiq Khan spends his time building
‘Brand Khan’ – hosting beach parties, bidding for Labour leadership and plastering
his own face all over our city.
And even though the clue is in the job
description – POLICE AND CRIME COMMISSIONER – with Sadiq Khan, it is always
somebody else’s fault.
He’s blamed the Government, he’s blamed
parents and he’s blamed teachers for the rise in crime.
Meanwhile violent crime is destroying
lives and it is plaguing London.
London is the greatest city on earth –
and Londoners deserve better.
And we have had better. Does anyone remember the
last Mayor of London? Our Prime Minister Boris Johnson.
Conference, let’s just remind ourselves about what was
achieved the last time London had a Conservative Mayor:
The murder rate – cut by half
Overall crime – cut by 20%
And 11,000 knives were taken off the streets
On his first day in No10, the Prime Minister
committed to recruiting 20,000 more police officers.
Our Party gets delivery and safety in a way that the
Labour Party simply doesn’t.
And Boris showed everyone what could be achieved –
making Labour failings even clearer.
And with a Conservative Mayor, who
loves and understands our great city, we could achieve so much.
Many of you already know my story.
And those that don’t, you already know
it too – it’s a very London story.
I grew up on an estate in the shadow of
Grenfell – not far from the stabbing last week.
Welfare was a lifeline. Work was a
life-changer.
I was a youth worker for 20 years –
helping young people grab the opportunities our city offers.
And now I have my own family. I have a
house. I’m an elected representative. I’m your mayoral candidate.
Everyday, I’m thankful for being born
in a city that has allowed me to build the life I wanted to live.
And I know what can be achieved when
the barriers are removed and crime is under control.
If our young people are protected from
gangs, they can avoid crime.
If our young people can find work, then
they have a path out of the hood.
If we support families, then our
communities struggle less.
You see conference, what London really
needs is a full-time Mayor, someone focused on making the city a safer place to
live.
Whose ambition is not to improve their
own public image, but to lift up millions of people in London and show them
that they have another choice.
Because I know that my first duty as
Mayor would be to keep Londoners safe.
If we have safe streets, we have safe
schools.
If we have safe streets, businesses can
invest.
If we have safe streets, communities
feel secure.
London needs better transport, cleaner
air and far more homes for people to live in.
But if the streets aren’t safe, our
Capital simply cannot thrive.
And I have a plan to make our streets
safe.
To fund a record number of police in
London using the money that already exists in City Hall.
To take a zero-tolerance approach to tackling
crime.
To call for mandatory sentences for
those who carry knives and acid on the first offence.
And I will introduce Operation London Ceasefire,
a programme to de-escalate tensions on the streets by providing opportunities
to London’s young people.
Conference, we need a ‘get real’
approach. That’s what I am offering.
As part of the ‘get real approach’:
I will launch Homes for London – a City
Hall backed developer with a singular goal: to build the homes that Londoners
need.
I will electrify London’s entire bus
fleet – the equivalent of taking a million cars of the roads.
As a start, I’ll build five youth zones
across London – to help our young people get the support and learn the skills
they need to succeed.
But the first step has got to be to
solve London’s crime emergency.
So I pledge to you today that I will
fight every minute of every day for the next eight months for a safer London.
And WHEN we win in London
WHEN we win in London
I will work tirelessly – so you don’t
need to spend any of your time thinking about the Mayor of London.
I will make sure that our city always works
for us. Keeps us moving. Keeps us secure. Keeps us safe.
So that Londoners can concentrate on
seizing the opportunities that London offers.
Conference, please stand with me.
Thank you.”
ENDS