Putting Londoners first, not damaging the next generation

Students and young people in Londoners are being let down by the Conservative party. The next generation is getting a raw deal from the Tories, stifling their prospects. Boris Johnson did not lift a finger on their behalf when the Tory government launched these attacks. 

As Mayor he praised plans for a private university with £18,000-a-year fees as “unambiguously good news.”

London has the biggest student population in Britain. Yet Boris Johnson did not speak up for London families and future graduates over the imposition of higher student fees and cuts to university funding. The high cost of living means the impact of repaying fees will be felt more sharply in London. Once they earn £21,000 graduates will be expected to start repaying their loans but £21,000 does not go very far at all in a city with high private sector rents and a high cost of living. 

The Mayor has enormous power to influence debate and policymaking. Tory Boris Johnson should have lobbied MPs and the government that the abolition of the Education Maintenance Allowance would cause damage to many young people and their families in London. He did not speak up. 

Under Conservative economic policies London has the highest rate of 16-24yr old unemployment in the whole country at 22 per cent.

Ken Livingstone will put Londoners first – Ken Livingstone’s record shows he will put the next generation of Londoners first. He backed students who peacefully protested against the student fees rise, campaigned against the cut to EMA and introduced free bus and tram travel for all under-18s in full time education. He opposes as elitist the high-fees university that Boris Johnson praises. He will press the case for graduates struggling to make ends meet because of London’s high cost of living