Green Party candidate for London Mayor Jenny Jones details her proposals to encourage a 10:1 ratio of company pay, to boost contracts to smaller firms through her mayoral office and how Londoners could have a safer and healthier life in the city. This is the third in a three part series with the mayoral candidates, including Brian Paddick and Ken Livingstone, with an introduction by Tony Travers

Jones, Jenny

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blogs.lse.ac.uk http://blogs.lse.ac.uk/politicsandpolicy/2012/03/13/london-mayoral-election-jones/Jenny Jones: “My vision for London is of a moresustainable, fairer and cleaner city”.Mar 13 2012Green Party candidate for London Mayor Jenny Jones details her proposals toencourage a 10:1 ratio of company pay, to boost contracts to smaller firmsthrough her mayoral office and how Londoners could have a safer and healthierlife in the city. This is the third in a three part series with the mayoral candidates,including Brian Paddick and Ken Livingstone, with an introduction by TonyTravers.    I’ve spent the past twelve years on the London Assembly, holding the Mayor to account and pushingGreen ideas into action. In overseeing our transport, fire and police services, the Mayoral officeholds a direct influence over the order of urban life, and through the two or three Green seats wehave held on the London Assembly, the Green Party has been able to have a positive effect on howCity Hall treats Londoners, whether through the housing and planning sector, in the procurement ofcontracted works and in the pockets of the people we pay.I’m currently standing for Mayor and I am part of a team of 24 Green candidates seeking election onthe 3rd May. The work I’m perhaps most well known for is my critique of the Met police and for mysupport of walking and cycling, but what I want to discuss here is how I will use the Mayoral office totackle inequality and support small growing businesses. Our Green vision for London is one whereour air becomes cleaner to breathe, our streets become safer to walk and cycle along, and we canprovide housing and services to all those who need them. A less polluted London with a healthyrelationship with our environment, but also a fairer London where people are lifted out of poverty,small businesses are supported and young people can find work or training.One thing that has always been a particular concern for the Greens is equality. The polarisation ofrich and poor we’ve seen over the past decades is detrimental to the city’s social fabric. There is agrowing body of research showing that, when compared to economically divided populations, moreegalitarian populations are healthier, happier, live longer, are more law abiding and much morepolitically engaged; people are less stressed, less anxious, more secure and happier. In short, theyfare better. The fewer social ills, fewer psychological conditions and fewer instances of drugaddiction precede reduced health and penal costs.What’s just as concerning is inequality’s effect on democracy. Research on ‘democratic deficit’suggests that divided societies see fewer voters turn out, as those who lose out from politicaldecisions see little point in voting. In turn, the policies that facilitate widening inequality continue,weakly opposed. Clearly, we need a preemptive attack on the root cause, rather than to endlesslyspend on patching up the symptoms. As Mayor there are two feasible methods for achieving this.First, where the mayor can control employment and procurement directly within the Greater LondonAuthority (GLA) – including City Hall, Transport for London, and the Met Police – I will make sure noone earns less than a tenth of the highest earner. By trimming off a small portion of excessiveearnings internally and dividing that amongst the lowest earners, this policy requires no externalalteration of budgets and would dramatically improve the material means of those at the bottom ofthe earnings’ ladder. Secondly, I will introduce a fair pay mark, which will be awarded to companiesthat adopt a 10:1 pay ratio or better. These are the first steps toward properly alleviating theadversity associated with gulfs in earnings and form the basis of my vision of a fairer London.Encouraging jobs and growth is a challenge for national government, but here in London we canharness subtle tools to influence local economies. Micro-businesses, those with fewer than 10harness subtle tools to influence local economies. Micro-businesses, those with fewer than 10employees, provide employment for 2 million people and 90 per cent of London’s enterprise iscomposed of self-employed individuals. These small businesses are at the front of the line forinnovation and new jobs. We can tailor planning policy to favour ‘high-streets’ with essentialservices, and protect market traders, even encourage new market spaces – hotbeds for low-costretail. There is often the assumption that supermarkets create new jobs, yet jobs lost inoutcompeted independent retail outlets near the superstores commonly outnumber those gained.What’s more, research commissioned by the Federation of Small Businesses shows that anaverage of only five per cent of a chainstore’s turnover will find its way into the local area, comparedto around 50 per cent from an independent retailer. Of course, small business isn’t confined to retailand we would support growth sectors like those of the ‘silicon roundabout’, renewables and thoseusing co-operative models through planning controls and investment in infrastructure that favour thehigh street and upstart industries.The objective of project Merlin was to see Britain’s five biggest banks lend £76bn to businesses,yet the Bank of England’s latest report  shows that lending to small and medium sized businessescontinued to contract, falling by 5.1 per cent last August. As we know, capital is needed to kickstarta business and support it through quiet months and hard times. Company owners have told me thatthe banks’ unwillingness to loan means growth opportunities have been missed and survival mademuch more difficult. Accordingly, we will stipulate that the GLA won’t place its £15bn budget withbanks that refuse to lend to the capital’s small businesses. We can do that by assessing a lenders’track record on the matter before we reach any agreement.Furthermore, the Mayor’s office can use public contracts to boost smaller firms. Each year the GLAsecures around £8bn worth of contracts for public services, such as waste management. The sheerscale of the services offered mean that smaller enterprises attempting to compete are screenedout, preventing the growth of innovative entrepreneurial activity and different, smaller-scale businessmodels. To begin to amend this, we would commit 15 per cent of contracts to small and micro-businesses, more than doubling the current figure. By dividing the demands placed on providerswe’d hope to open the contracts to new competition from smaller firms. Similarly, we will inviteaccountability and competition for contracts through ‘CompeteFor’, committing contracts worth£10,000 and above to this online system. We would commission research into ‘buy local’ schemeswith the intention of encouraging the types of schemes that work. In all, this would mean a GLAcommitted to growing the businesses that matter, the ones that really are sewn into the city’s fabric.My vision for London is of a more sustainable, fairer and cleaner city; a London where people reallyare given the option to dispense with dirty motors; where new technologies are properly harnessedon public transport; where the option to cycle is feasible for everyone of all ages and abilities, notjust the brave willing to go head to head with traffic so that we can really make headway onLondon’s filthy air.I want to see a London where economic activity is for the city and its inhabitants, not just physicallyin it; where we target our support toward the small-to-medium businesses that need support togrow, innovate, create jobs, take on apprentices, try out new business models and integrate intotheir local area. I want to see a London where the gulfs between high and low pay are reduced, sothat as prices continue to inflate those who really need it will have more and those unjust excesses –far beyond anyone’s needs – are reigned in.Unfortunately, one blog entry doesn’t give much space for all the things I’d like to write about. I’ve leftout my concerns for a London where we set in place a system of perpetuated social and co-operative housing (as opposed to the fallacy of Boris’ ‘affordable’ houses. I’ve decided not to writeabout my commitment to animal welfare. But please do read more about the Green approach to theareas of policy you are interested in. We offer a unique and complete vision for the city; not just acollection of populist slogans aimed at short-term electoral success.In 12 years of attendance at the London Assembly I’ve seen City Hall turn from red to blue, butalways in parts coloured green too. In that time we’ve been able to push through the Living Wage,fought against the closure of a police unit that educates heavy goods drivers on road sharing,successfully opposed Heathrow’s expansion and secured cycling budget commitments under KenLivingstone and upped the climate change budget from £300,000 per year to £8bn.Wherever the Greens have made themselves heard, we’ve helped improve Londoners’ lives. AfterMay, the greener City Hall is coloured—in both the Mayoral and Assembly elections—the cleaner,healthier, happier and fairer our capital will become.The British Politics and Policy blog team attempted to contact the Conservative candidate, BorisJohnson and his campaign team, on numerous occasions. However we had not received aresponse at the time of publication. Please read our comments policy before posting.About the authorJenny Jones has held public office as an London Assembly Member since 2000, and was aSouthwark councillor from 2006-10. In 2003-4, she held the position of Deputy Mayor of London.Before she entered politics, she worked as a financial controller and as an archaeologist in theMiddle East.You may also be interested in the following posts (automatically generated):1. London businesses benefit from the city’s ‘diversity bonus’ – so current immigration policiesare unhelpful. There should be a greater focus on workers’ welfare2. When the City of London’s bubble burst, it was the state and the real economy that had to takethe hit3. Falling poverty rates in inner London raise questions about inequality and segregation for agrowing city in transition4. City success from London to Hong Kong depends not only on financial prowess, but also onthe well-being and mental health of residents

Jenny Jones: “my vision for London is of a more sustainable, fairer and cleaner city”

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