Mayoral hopeful Sian Berry today launched her election manifesto as she outlined plans to make London “the greenest city in the world”.
Speaking at a council estate in Lambeth, the Green Party candidate marked the launch of her manifesto by saying “the greenest city in the world doesn’t just set ambitious targets, it makes real plans to get there”.
In her manifesto, Ms Berry has pledged to bring forward climate change targets to 2030 and has said she will cancel the controversial Silvertown road tunnel project.
There are also plans to scrap the zones system on London’s transport network to flatten fares, as well as to make all of London’s transport zero-carbon by 2030.
Also included are pledges to tackle the housing crisis, including through the formation of a Rent Commission that will define a more accurate London Living Rent, and a People’s Land Commission that will give Londoners a greater say over how land is used.
Like Sadiq Khan, who launched his own manifesto earlier this week, Sian Berry has also pledged to invest in green jobs to “transform our economy”.
Ms Berry told the Local Democracy Reporting Service that it was “astounding” how many green policies Mr Khan was promising, and that it “absolutely shows the huge impact that (the Green Party) are having”.
She said: “We’re doing really well in the polls. You can see that we have a significant amount of people voting for us that (Sadiq Khan) wants to pick off. This is good because it ups the ante in terms of green policies.
“There are still huge gaps in what (Sadiq Khan) is putting forward. £50 million for a green new deal is a drop in the ocean. Planning to build the Silvertown Tunnel, which is completely the wrong thing to do. The Ultra-Low Emission Zone needs to be the whole of London.
“It’s good that (Sadiq Khan) is trying to come on our turf because that’s where we’d rather fight this battle.”
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