The London spirit

In the heat of the extraordinary hype over the ethno-religious aspect of the mayoral election in London, the international audiences have largely overlooked the significance of that office – created in the year 2000 after a referendum. The election of the first mayor of Greater London was a major step towards empowering the local government in and around the City of London.

Our political leaders should look beyond taking sides in the London election and appreciate the spirit behind the consolidation of the system of local governance in the British capital. This while they (our leaders) have been trying to block and undercut the growth of the local government system in the Islamic Republic.

Part of the problem lies in the process wherein every president-general tried to strengthen the local bodies in order to, among others, weaken the hold of the traditional political class. Each civilian government that followed tried to diminish the local bodies system to restore the powers of provincial governments, which they could then control from their power bases.

Gen Musharraf had created a powerful local government system, a short time after the reform in Britain. As before, after the return of democracy in 2008, the two major parties – the PML-N and the PPP – reversed the process. Following the 2013 election, the PTI that came to power in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa behaved in the same manner.

All three parties delayed the local bodies elections and reluctantly conducted these after repeated orders of the Supreme Court. Balochistan, which was not dominated by any of the big parties emerged as the first province to hold the local elections.

The metropolitan mayors of Karachi and Islamabad remain powerless. The situation may be better in other cities but the fact remains that the traditional political forces in the country are dead set against transferring real power to the local bodies. They seem to ignore that the local tier can be an effective vehicle of increasing their grassroots level support. London represents an interesting model to redesign local government in our major cities.

Sadiq Khan is only the third mayor of Greater London, which includes the City of London (which has its own ceremonial lord mayor). Along with the London Assembly of 25 members, he will be responsible for strategic government of Greater London. His functions cover strategic planning, including housing, waste management, the environment, transport policy, policing and crime policy, fire and emergency planning and economic development.

By virtue of these wide-ranging functions – and armed by a popular mandate – the mayor of London has become a high-profile job in Britain. Sadiq Khan ’s predecessor was Boris Johnson, a Conservative whereas the first mayor, Ken Livingstone was elected as an independent but later joined the Labour Party. That makes Sadiq the second Labour Party member to be elected to the post.

The first mayor’s, Livingston, initiatives included the London congestion charge on private vehicles using city centre of London on weekdays and creation of the London Climate Change Agency.

The second mayor, Boris Johnson, took measures for better policing and supporting the use of bicycles to overcome traffic congestion. He introduced a cycle hire scheme with 5,000 bicycles available for hire across London.

The scheme came to be known as ‘Boris Bikes’ among Londoners. He followed up by announcing a billion pound investment in infrastructure to make cycling safer in London including a 24 km segregated cross rail for bikes.

Sadiq Khan, a human rights lawyer by profession, has promised Londoners a new housing policy to help them cope with the unaffordable house prices as big money from abroad keeps increasing its share of London real estate. The new mayor has promised to use land owned by the mayor and Transport of London to increase the supply of housing.

He will also support councils to enforce new rules to maximise affordable housing in new developments. Having grown up in a council house, Sadiq can understand better the callousness of an elitist and capitalist approach to housing development.

Affordable housing is only one of the pledges that brought Sadiq a clear victory in the election. He has promised to freeze for the next four years the cost of public transport in London. He will continue to support programmes to facilitate and encourage the use of cycles in London area to decrease congestion and limit air pollution.

Making London safer is another important component of Sadiq’s manifesto. He pledged to restore neighbourhood policing, tackle gangs and knife crime, and unveil a new plan to tackle the spread of extremism.

We should pay a well-deserved tribute to Londoners for ignoring attempts to rally support against a self-made man with an ordinary but different ethnic and religious background. Sadiq’s election also reflects the maturity of the British political system.

Many years ago, the UK was acknowledged as Europe’s first multiracial country. Its educational and political system allows opportunities to second generation of immigrants that is unmatched by any other European state.

In electing Sadiq Khan, the British have given a fitting rebuke to the ultranationalists, who are trying to divide nations in the name of race or religion on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean.

While the first African-American president of the US is in the eighth and final year of his term, the first Muslim and the son of a Pakistani immigrant has taken office as the mayor of Greater London. Like his predecessors, Sadiq is poised to become one of the most prominent public officeholders in his country.

Email: saeed.saeedk@gmail.com