Tag: Mayor of London

Minicab drivers are launching a legal action against the London mayor, Sadiq Khan, accusing him of discrimination against a largely ethnic minority workforce by making them pay the congestion charge while black cab drivers, who are overwhelmingly white, will be exempt. But the Independent Workers Union of Great Britain (IWGB), which represents many Uber drivers and other gig economy workers, claims it amounts to indirect discrimination and violates the human rights of its members. Until now, minicabs and black cabs have been exempt from the existing £11.50 congestion charge. When the ULEZ charge is levied, the cost to about 18,000 minicab drivers estimated by City Hall to carry passengers in central London each day is likely to be more than £1.4m a week. It could push down earnings for Uber drivers, which have been estimated by academics at about £11 per hour, by about 13% over an eight-hour shift. It argues the decision is in breach of the UK Equality Act and the European convention on human rights that protects property rights and which has been interpreted as protecting people’s ability to carry out their profession. “If Sadiq Khan doesn’t reverse this policy we will continue to fight it in the courts and in the streets.” A spokeswoman for the mayor said: “The number of private hire vehicles entering the congestion charge zone has shot up from 4,000 a day in 2003 to more than 18,000 now. Sadiq simply isn’t prepared to ignore the damaging impact this has on congestion and increasing air pollution. Congestion has a crippling impact on businesses across the capital. “At the same time, our toxic air in London is a major public health crisis that is stunting the lung development of our children, leading to thousands of premature deaths, and increases the risk of asthma and dementia.” City Hall said that private hire drivers who wished to avoid the charge could switch to a low-emissions vehicle or drive a vehicle that was accessible for wheelchairs.

Looking to get involved in politics and government? From a sit-down with state representatives to a discussion on presidential powers during a national emergency, here's a rundown of local events coming up in Chicago this week that will get you connected to the wide world of civics and political engagement. Hoodline offers data-driven analysis of local happenings and trends across cities. --- Kennedy-King College - Mayoral Candidates Forum First, Kennedy-King College is hosting the "Mayoral Candidates Forum" on Tuesday. When: Tuesday, Jan. 29, 6-9 p.m. Where: Kennedy-King College, 740 W. 63rd St. Price: Free Click here for more details, and to register WE CHILL Legislative Coffee Date: Representatives Sara Feigenholtz & Ann Williams Next, WE WILL, a non-profit organization, is holding a a sit-down with state representatives Sara Feigenholtz and Ann Williams on Friday at Julius Meinl. WE WILL is a bipartisan, grassroots organization lobbying for women's and children's rights in Illinois, and its mission is to empower women in the legislative process, according to the promoter of the event. When: Friday, Feb. 1, 10-11:30 a.m. Where: Julius Meinl, 3601 N. Southport Ave. Price: Free Click here for more details, and to register #Trending: The Politics of National Emergencies Lastly, the #Trending speaker series hosted by the Institute of Politics, is holding a discussion on Friday on "The Politics of National Emergencies" for students only. Dr. Will Howell, a professor in American Politics at the University of Chicago will first discuss the presidency and the separation-of-powers issues and then will participate in a Q&A with the audience. Lunch will also be provided. Dr. Howell will include current events such as President Trump considering declaring a national emergency to help get funding for his border wall.

Writing in the Observer, Sadiq Khan says that, with so little time left to negotiate, there are now only two possible outcomes: a bad deal for the UK or “no deal” at all, which will be even worse. “They are both incredibly risky and I don’t believe Theresa May has the mandate to gamble so flagrantly with the British economy and people’s livelihoods,” he writes. “This means a public vote on any Brexit deal obtained by the government, or a vote on a ‘no-deal’ Brexit if one is not secured, alongside the option of staying in the EU,” he writes. More than 100 anti-Brexit motions, and motions backing another referendum, or people’s vote, have been submitted by constituency parties – believed to be a record for any single issue in the party’s recent history. A large number of the motions are from the left of the party, and call for a commitment to a people’s vote to be inserted into Labour’s next general election manifesto. The people must have another vote – to take back control of Brexit Read more Sam Tarry, national political officer of the TSSA union, who used to work for Corbyn, said the left of the Labour party was uniting behind demands for another vote: “The sheer weight of anti-Brexit motions going to conference is unlike anything I have ever seen – and the only force in the Labour party capable of pulling that off is the left. The trade union movement has moved quickly towards an anti-Tory Brexit position this summer. Alena Ivanova, a leading activist for the grassroots group Momentum in east London, said: “This is a campaign now being led by the left... Tory Brexit is a fundamental threat to the rights and prosperity of working-class people and the communities that Labour represents, driven by bosses and rightwing ideologues. We will only stop it with unashamed leftwing internationalism and, crucially, that will also help us in the campaign to get the Corbyn government we need.” Recognition of the case for a new referendum also appears to be growing in Tory circles. On Saturday the Conservative MP George Freeman, a former chair of Theresa May’s policy board, said on Twitter that pressure for a second vote would become “overwhelming” should moderate Conservatives fail to shape a sensible Brexit deal.

Labour’s Janet Daby has won the Lewisham East byelection and immediately promised to oppose a hard Brexit, after the party’s margin of victory was cut by a resurgent Liberal Democrats in the heavily pro-remain seat. Daby took just over 50% of the vote in the south-east London constituency, ahead of the Lib Dems’ Lucy Salek, who won 25% of the vote – a 20 percentage point rise in the party’s share of the vote – to leapfrog the Conservatives and take second place. The Conservative share fell by 8 percentage points after their candidate, Ross Archer, won less than 9% of the votes. Labour held Lewisham East with 50.2% of the vote – down 17.75 points since June 2017 Standfirst ... % 0% 10 20 30 40 50 Lab Janet Daby 50.2% (11,033 votes) Lib Dem Lucy Salek 24.59% (5,404) Con Ross Archer 14.38% (3,161) Green Rosamund Adoo-Kissi-Debrah 3.59% (788) Women’s Equality Mandu Reid 2.30% (506) Ukip David Kurten 1.73% (380) Guardian Graphic | Turnout 69.28% (47,201) Daby won a closely contested internal Labour battle to run for the safe seat vacated by Heidi Alexander, who quit parliament to work with the mayor of London, Sadiq Khan. “I will oppose an extreme or a hard Brexit,” she said. “I will consider people’s jobs, the economy and people’s rights, and that will dictate to me the precedent in how I will conduct myself both within parliament and out of parliament.” The Labour share of the vote fell by almost 18 percentage points from the 2017 election, and, with a much-reduced turnout from last year, Daby secured a majority of 5,629, compared with the 21,213 seen by Alexander. A Lib Dem bounce in Lewisham cannot shift Labour’s Brexit stance | Owen Jones Read more The Lib Dems claimed the swing was the biggest against Labour in a seat since 2004, and the most significant since 1983 when Labour was in opposition. “This is the largest swing from Labour to the Liberal Democrats in over a decade and the failure of Labour’s leadership to oppose the Conservatives’ hard Brexit cannot be hidden or forgotten.” Salek said the result showed the party was “the real opposition here. #LewishamEast June 15, 2018 Asked how much distance there was between her and Corbyn’s views on Brexit, Daby said: “In terms of the single market, our Labour view on this is that we would have a new single market where we have the same access that we presently do. “In terms of Jeremy Corbyn, I voted for Jeremy Corbyn twice in the leadership election and obviously within politics not everybody will agree on everything.” The Greens came fourth in the byelection, followed by the Women’s Equality Party.

Sadiq Khan, the mayor of London, has piled further pressure on Amber Rudd to resign as home secretary as he launched a devastating attack on her “inhumane treatment” of immigrants in towns and cities across the country. His intervention, in an article in the Observer, comes as millions of voters prepare to go the polls on Thursday in local elections in which Labour hopes to seize flagship Tory councils in London and other urban areas. 'No basis to remain': woman, 63, told she will be removed from UK to Jamaica Read more But allies said that revelations in the Guardian on Friday that Rudd had in fact been informed of specific targets for the removal of immigrants – having been copied in on a detailed six-page memo giving details of them – were the last straw. What the home secretary and prime minister don’t appear to understand is that the Windrush scandal is the direct consequence of their policies and not just another example of the administrative chaos at the Home Office. We know this because they have repeatedly bragged about this for years.” Rudd’s future and controversy over Tory immigration policy look certain to become a central factor in the many high-profile contests in Thursday’s elections. Timeline Amber Rudd's apologies The home secretary has issued five apologies in the last week – four of them over her department's handling of the Windrush crisis and immigration targets. 26 April 2018 On Thursday afternoon, Rudd was forced to issue a hasty clarification after appearing to leave the door open to the UK staying in a customs union with the EU. 27 April 2018 In a series of late-night tweets, Rudd apologised for not being aware of documents, leaked to the Guardian, which set out immigration removal targets. ‘I wasn’t aware of specific removal targets. I didn’t see the leaked document, although it was copied to my office as many documents are."