Brian Haley, one of four contenders hoping to become the Liberal Democrat candidate for Mayor of London, writes on the need to send out an inclusive message in next year’s campaign.
The Liberal Democrat Party can be proud that each of our four Mayoral contestants has such excellent qualifications for the post.
The one thing everyone has been saying to me at our London hustings is that LibDems should send a clear message that we are an inclusive party.
Backing me with a first- preference vote is the best way to get that message over both to Londoners and the national electorate, so it can affect future elections in other parts of the country.
And if we want to appeal to disillusioned Labour voters in multi-ethnic boroughs throughout London, again I’m the man to back. I’ve made that journey.
It’s the same journey the party has to persuade thousand of voters to make in this and the next general election.
Having been brought up on a council-estate and living in over-crowded conditions I can empathise with so many voters on equal terms. As a young boy I moved to England from Guyana with my family: I experienced the difficulties faced by so many similar families coming to London.
For 16 years I have been a councillor and held major London Council Environmental cabinet post, which involved policy-development with the government and the Greater London Authority.
I chaired the board of London’s premier heat-from-waste plant for 8 years, and I currently sit on the Liberal Democrats DEFRA committee (Department Environmental, Food and Rural Affairs) and DECC (Department for Energy and Climate Change) at the House of Commons.
I believe that I am a strong role-model for our party. We should use this London Mayoral election to send an overall, national message to the electorate.
