Momentum builds for Ken Livingstone
On the final day of campaigning before the Mayoral election, momentum has moved strongly in Ken Livingstone's favour.
Ken will send a stark message: ‘Don't Vote For a Joke - Vote For London' on a million postcards delivered to households across London as well as in newspaper advertisements and at dozens of Tube stations.
The impact of the Livingstone campaign has been built up with leafleting at more than a hundred stations in the past three days and over 650 campaigning events.
It comes as older Londoners are increasingly concerned about the Freedom Pass. Boris Johnson has merely promised to ‘work with local councils who pay for the Freedom Pass to make it operational for 24 hours a day' whereas Ken Livingstone has simply pledged £20 million a year from Transport for London to ensure operation of the Freedom Pass is extended. The opposition that will come from London Councils is shown by the fact that a leading Johnson supporter, Daniel Moylan, has already called the Freedom Pass a ‘stealth tax'. Another Johnson supporter, Brian Cooke, has attacked Ken's 24 hour Freedom Pass as a ‘mad idea' and ‘plain daft'.
Ken Livingstone said:
‘The series of attacks on the Freedom Pass by Boris Johnson supporters, such as the claim that it is a 'stealth tax' and the savage attack on the 24-hour Freedom Pass policy released by Boris Johnson's campaign on Monday, demonstrate what would be in store if Boris Johnson became Mayor. My commitment to extend the Freedom Pass so that older and disabled Londoners can use it before 9am was my first manifesto commitment of the campaign and I will ensure it is delivered this year.
Ken has been criss-crossing London throughout the week, in outer London boroughs as well as inner and central London, reflecting the fact that only Ken of the two main candidates can unite London. Polls show Ken as the only candidate enjoying high support across every social group in London, whereas Boris Johnson divides London.
Taking all expressing a preference, and after the second preference votes are distributed, the Ipsos-MORI poll on 23-24 April showed that among all voters, voting intentions showed Ken Livingstone leading Boris Johnson among nearly every social group.
While leading among both men and women, Ken Livingstone's lead among women is a striking 22 points:
* Among men. Ken Livingstone leads by 4 points, 52 to 48 points for Johnson;
* Among women, Livingstone leads by 22 points, 61 to 39 points.
While leading among all communities, Ken Livingstone has a massive 34 lead among Black, Asian and ethnic minority voters, reflecting Boris Johnson's offensive comments about Black people and virtually every other ethnic minority:
* Among White voters, Livingstone leads by two points, 51 to 49 points;
* Among Black, Asian and ethnic minority voters, Livingstone leads by 34 points, 72 points to 28 points.
The poll indicates that Ken is also in the lead among the main social classes:
* Among social groups AB and C1, Livingstone leads by 12 points, 56 to 44 points;
* Among social groups C2DE, Livingstone leads by 16 points, 58 to 42 points.
Ken Livingstone leads dramatically among younger voters, with the only group showing a lead for Boris Johnson being those over the age of 55:
* Among 18-34 year olds, Ken Livingstone leads by 14 points, 57 to 43 points;
* Among 35-54 year olds, Livingstone leads by 26 points, 63 to 37 points;
* Among over 55 year olds, is the only group showing a lead for Johnson, of four points, 52 to 48 points.
Ken Livingstone's campaign said:
‘Over the last six weeks it has become clear that the sharpest choice in this election is about Ken Livingstone's commitment to London as opposed to Boris Johnson's incompetence, a choice that will affect every Londoner's pocket. The election is not a joke, it will affect the day to day life of every Londoner.
‘Ken has a clear commitment over the next four years to deliver the £39 billion transport investment programme to improve Tube, buses and rail, reduce crime with neighbourhood police and a thousand more officers, get more homes to rent and buy at affordable prices with the policy that half of all new homes should be affordable, help give young Londoners somewhere safe to go outside school hours with more youth centres and facilities, protect free travel schemes and extend the Freedom Pass, and continue to improve London's good community relations in a city where racially motivated incidents have fallen by half whereas elsewhere they have risen.
‘In the course of this election we have seen a series of blunders by Boris Johnson - the costing of his bus programme was not £8 million a year as he claimed but £114 million a year, he had to do a complete u-turn when he tried to call for referendums to overturn the smoking ban, his claim to "out-ethnic" an Asian presenter was greeted with ridicule, and he has shown his ignorance about the city in every serious interview allowed by his ever-present minders.
‘As these issues have been thrashed out, the momentum has moved decisively in Ken's direction and the stakes are now clear - who is capable of leading London whether it is against terrorist attacks, winning the Olympics, delivering the biggest investment programme since the war or in making sure all Londoners share their city's success.'