Barnet GLA election: The candidates make their case

Andrew Dismore is the current representative - but will voters chose him again or go for someone new?

For those still undecided, we asked each of the five candidates to tell us five reasons why they should be elected. Can they convince you?

Conservative candidate Daniel Thomas

• The only candidate to live full-time in Barnet, I’ve been a local councillor for ten years having been re-elected three times. I’ve helped many charities, community and faith groups achieve their ambitions. I care passionately about our area and will be your strong local voice at City Hall.

• Barnet Council will deliver 20,000 new homes over the next 10 years, including 800 new council homes. Locally, I’ve helped ensure that 40% of homes built since 2010 are affordable. I will work with Zac Goldsmith to ensure this good work continues and that private renters are also treated fairly.

• Despite Labour’s scaremongering, crime has fallen in Barnet over the long term. We live in one of the safest boroughs in London. We need a zero-tolerance approach to low level crime and hate crime. Barnet will benefit from Zac Goldsmith adding 500 extra police officers to London’s transport system.

• Conservatives want to modernise London’s transport network, illustrated by Boris Johnson’s record investment and introduction of the Night Tube. Unfortunately, the transport unions resist these changes and, as they fund the Labour Party, a Labour Mayor and Assembly Member will not be able to deliver the improvements we desperately need.

• We are fortunate to have many green open spaces in our area. To protect them and our environment, new homes should only be built on ‘brownfiled’ sites. Zac Goldsmith has a strong track record on environmental issues and I support his plan to tackle air pollution and traffic congestion.

Labour candidate, Andrew Dismore

• The Assembly’s job is scrutinising the mayor. My professional and political experience and skills as lawyer, councillor, MP and Assembly Member have enabled me to challenge successfully council leaders, Government from the Prime Minister down, and the Mayor - exposing underperformance, mistakes and maladministration, without political fear or favour.

• The Conservatives devastated Barnet’s police, cutting hundreds of officers, closing police stations, abolishing Safer Neighbourhood Police teams. Crime is rising, especially burglary and violence. I’ll work with our Mayor to restore safer neighbourhood beat policing and prioritise the fight against hate crime, including anti-Semitism and Islamophobia wherever they occur.

• Barnet Conservatives have allowed affordable housing shortages to grow while backing speculators’ developments. Their regeneration schemes like West Hendon have failed local families in desperate housing need, with thousands of children in temporary accommodation. We will give local people priority for genuinely affordable housing.

• The Conservatives would increase transport fares - £1,000 more for most Barnet commuters. We’ll freeze fares for four years and guarantee over 60s free travel. The Conservative candidate has refused to give 30 minutes free shoppers’ parking. I will work with the Mayor to deliver this.

• We oppose building on the Green Belt. Labour will promote green corridors to protect biodiversity and strengthen protection of parks and playing fields. After eight Conservative years, 10,000 Londoners die prematurely because of filthy air. We support cycling and school walking routes, clean bus technology and a zero carbon city.

Green Party candidate, Stephen Taylor

• Our young can’t afford to live in the city they grew up in. A Green mayor and assembly will not just build 200,000 more homes in the next term, we will ensure they stay available at rents students and working people can afford.

• Under the cloak of profitable estate ‘regenerations’, working people are being squeezed out of London. A Green mayor will call in projects that fail to house their residents. 70,000 new homes can be built by infilling and extending existing estates, without making residents homeless.

• Greens in City Hall will establish a People’s Land Commission to make public land available not just to large developers but also community-led housing projects.

• Greens will establish a London Renters Union to reduce rents, improve tenures and protect tenants from exploitation.

• Student rents are soaring. We are not serving our valuable young citizens well with such a high cost of living. Greens will calculate an annual Student Living Rent for London and work with institutions to ensure at least half of their halls of residence are available at or below it.

Lib Democrat Zack Polanski

• The cost of housing in London is clearly unsustainable. As a young private renter, I know how badly it's hitting those of us on lower incomes. I'll do everything I can to encourage longer term tenancies that are pegged at the rate of inflation.

• London has some of the most polluted roads in Europe and a very heavily congested transport network. I'll push for segregated cycle lanes and encourage a more friendly culture towards cycling so motorists, cyclists and pedestrians can all feel considered.

• Young black men are being disproportionately stopped on the streets and searched without actually evidence. Frequently they're arrested for cannabis abuse. It's causing tensions between minority communities and the police, and I believe our valued police force could be doing much better things with their time.

• Europe isn't something within the London Mayor's remit but their attitude towards it is very significant. I'm proud to represent a party that whilst recognising Europe needs reform also recognises it's absolute value both with economic and humanitarian value.

• I'm both Jewish and gay. I get that plenty of people in London don't feel that their voice is heard. I will be a voice that regularly seeks to engage with all our communities and consistently and relentlessly to seek for less division and more inclusion. And this is something that I will do in every decision I make.

UKIP candidate Joseph Langton

• We are the only party to guarantee that a minimum of 50 per cent of new homes built will be affordable and 100 per cent prioritised for Londoners. I will end the social cleansing of hard-working Barnet residents by a Conservative Council who are intent on selling council homes to greedy property developers.
• We will unchain the police from their desks and help get them back to where they belong: on our streets. UKIP guarantee zero tolerance to anti-social behaviour and the reintroduction of stop and search to save young lives.
• We will freeze senior executive pay and axe bureaucratic management at TfL and Crossrail. I will also fight to bring the atrocious Thameslink service under TfL control. UKIP opposes HS2 vanity project which will cause mass disruption to North London residents and waste £80 billion the country simply does not have.
• London’s population is increasing by over 100,000 a year and hit 8.6m in 2015 (the highest since 1939); this is not sustainable. We will end open borders and introduce an Australian-style points system.
• I am the only candidate who will give the silent majority of Barnet a voice in City Hall which has been continually treated with contempt by the expenses-addicted political elite, will not benefit financially by being elected and supports Brexit, giving us back sovereignty and control over our own borders.