Interview
By Emma Griffiths
Political reporter, BBC News |
  | LINDSEY GERMAN Age: 56 Family: Lives with partner Education: Vyners grammar school, Hillingdon. Law degree at LSE. Lives: Hackney Career: Edited Socialist Review, campaigning, Stop the War Convenor. Respect mayoral candidate 2004 |
Housing would be among Lindsey German's priorities as mayor - but she would be no friend to developers looking to make a quick profit. The Left List candidate - a socialist campaigner best known for taking on the government as convenor of the Stop the War Coalition, which helped organise a march by one million people before the war - says Iraq remains a "very big issue". But for the London mayoral race, she is happy to turn her sights on those she blames for draining the capital's resources. No fan of skyscrapers and luxury flats, she would instead concentrate on low-cost housing and says there should be an emergency council house building programme to ease "chronic" overcrowding. She thinks Marks and Spencer boss Stuart Rose hit the nail on the head when he said there were so many rich people in London the West End had run out of diamonds. She says London is a city of "great inequality" and sees it as her mission to make it a more caring place to live. Symbol of wealth "If I were mayor then I would campaign extremely hard to say I'm not having any property developing unless it is tied to a tax on property development and unless we get proper housing. "I don't really see why there's any justification for building more offices or new luxury flats when there is such a shortage of non-luxury flats and residential accommodation," she said. "I wouldn't be saying 'should we build another skyscraper to rival Hong Kong'...What for, really? It's a symbol of wealth and power, that's why we are building it." | TOP PLEDGES Council house building programme Lower Tube and bus fares More investment in youth facilities to help cut crime An end to the war in Iraq - money to be spent on public services Combating racism and inequality |
She says the amount of affordable housing is "absolutely inadequate" while luxury flats are cropping up on every available bit of space. "One of the legacies of the Olympics should be a giant amount of public housing which can benefit some of the poorest and most needy people in London." Ms German, 56, who lives with her partner John in Hackney, was born in Hillingdon where she went to a grammar school, Vyners, before going on to study law at the London School of Economics. She also edited the Socialist Review and believes there are votes available for a left-wing mayoral candidate. Current mayor Ken Livingstone has done a lot of good things for London - but he's also made some mistakes, she believes. 'A terrible day' She says development he has allowed in east London is not benefiting "ordinary people" and she opposes handing the operation of the East London Tube Line to a private company once it is upgraded. She is also critical of his relations with the Metropolitan Police over the shooting of the Brazilian Jean Charles de Menezes, something she describes as "an absolutely terrible day in London's history". "I thought [Met commissioner] Sir Ian Blair should resign and I couldn't understand why Ken went out of his way to defend him," she said. Public transport in London is "the most expensive and worst in the world", she argues - she would prefer that the Tube be brought back into public ownership. And she would like a return for the old Routemaster bus - redesigned to accommodate disabled access - a platform she shares with an unlikely ally, Conservative candidate Boris Johnson. "I also feel that what replaced the Routemaster is an absolute disaster - bendy buses - hell on wheels. They are dangerous, uncomfortable, crime ridden sardine cans, nobody likes them either. "I know that this is a policy on which I agree with Boris, but I can't help that really - unlike him I have actually been on a bendy bus so I know what they're like." Bus conductors She also thinks Mr Livingstone was wrong to rule out a return to bus conductors on grounds of the �350m annual cost, arguing that police are now increasingly used on buses. "You can't just measure it in profit and loss. Obviously the fewer people employed by Transport for London the better for them but is it better for people who need help on the bus, who feel more secure if there's someone with them? No it isn't." She is strongly opposed to the use of stop and search powers by police saying it penalises boys from ethnic minorities and would rather see more investment in youth facilities. |  There's plenty of money in London - it's not going to the right people, that's the problem |
She would like London to become a more caring, more community-based place, with more park keepers, caretakers on estates and other figures in a "caring or custodial role" to help stop misbehaviour spiralling into yobbish behaviour. "We have to ask why those things happen - it's not just that kids are born bad or suddenly become more unruly than their parents or grandparents, there's a social reason for this." She ran as Respect's candidate for London mayor last time round - in 2004 - and came fifth. This time she's also running for a seat on the London Assembly and hopes the publicity from her mayoral bid will give that campaign a boost. Windfall tax Despite some differences with Labour mayor Ken Livingstone, she asks those who vote for her to choose him as their second preference, to head off the "serious threat" from Tory candidate Mr Johnson. "It will be a contest between him and Boris in the end and I would much rather have him in City Hall," she admits. "These are the candidates from the two main parties. Short of a very big political upheaval they will be in the final run-off." At the time of the interview, her position as the official Respect candidate was under question - as the party itself had split into two factions - and the party chairwoman who had to sign off Ms German's candidate had gone to George Galloway's side. Now she is standing under the Left List banner. She knows who she would target as mayor - in addition to property developers, big business would not escape unscathed. "We have one of the lowest corporation taxes in the world, we also have one of the lowest personal rates of tax on top earners," she adds. "So I think a combination on taxing top earners to a much higher rate, raising the level of corporation tax and also you could look at a special tax for London businesses over a certain size. "For example, Shell has just announced a profit of �13.9bn. Now a windfall tax, it seems to me, would not be inappropriate in this context. "We should look to all these. There's plenty of money in London - it's not going to the right people, that's the problem."
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