| Londonist Interviews: Mayoral Hopeful Chris Prior |
![]() The sixth in our series of interviews with potential candidates for next year's Mayoral election. Previously: Victoria Borwick (Tory), Andrew Boff (Tory) and Warwick Lightfoot (Tory), Sian Berry (Green), Fiyaz Mughal (Lib Dem). Chris Prior is an independent mayoral candidate standing on a very firm 'Stop Congestion Charging' ticket. We asked him why, and, as with all the other candidates, we also enquired whether he'd ever been sick on the Tube. Chris is the first so far to offer a policy to combat this scourge of the underground. Read on... Where do you live in London and what do you like best about it? Why do you think you should be Mayor and what policies would you bring to the office that would make you stand out against anyone else who wants to be? The congestion charge is an unfair tax - it is wrong that a nurse has to pay the same as a millionaire; it costs nearly 65p in every £1 to collect and it simply does not work. I believe that congestion and pollution are London-wide problems that require London-wide solutions. Democracy matters, Londoners must be given the opportunity to decide whether they wish to keep this example of bad government. With the political will, I see no reason why London should not have a public transport system as good and hopefully better than any other major city. London gets a raw deal as far as public investment is concerned with billions of pounds diverted from the capital to give the North and Scotland better public services than Londoners enjoy. I think this wrong. I believe that global warming and our reliance on oil is a major threat to Londoners and the rest of the UK. I would apply pressure on the government to reprioritise defence spending. Yes, we need to do much more to target terrorists, but rather than spending tens of billions on cold war weapons such as new fighters, aircraft carriers and a Trident replacement, we should instead invest in environmentally friendly transport and the infrastructure to support it. I believe that trying to make money out of emissions with new taxes is fundamentally wrong. We should be helping people cut emissions by encouraging plug-in hybrid and electric cars. I would provide London-wide vehicle charging points. How do you yourself travel around London? What is your policy regarding irritant noise from mobile phone music players on the tube and buses? Would you have introduced the Congestion Charge and if not will you repeal it? Do you support the building of a new runway at Heathrow and how would you reduce your own international travel if you become Mayor? What would be your vision for the city by 2020 and how would you achieve it as Mayor? I would reduce crime with the twin policies of doing all we can to encourage people not to embark on a criminal career but lobbying government to keeping them in prison for much longer if they chose that option. I believe that we must give Londoners much better value for money, improved services as lower cost. Local government cannot be exempt from improvements in efficiency seen elsewhere. I also want to make our city the entrepreneurial hot bed of Europe and would cut taxes on small business to help this happen. Do you have any London-based trivia our readers may not know? Have you ever been sick on the tube? By 'Race4CityHall' |
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