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James O'Brien is joined by London Mayor Sadiq Khan as crime rates fall in the capital with a major dip in West End phone thefts. Sir Khan also sends a message to the 'captains of online misinformation', namely Nigel Farage and Elon Musk, as he defends the 'liberal, progressive, multicultural' city. Listen to the full show on the all-new LBC App: https://app.af.lbc.co.uk/btnc/thenewlbcapp #jamesobrien #sadiqkhan #london #elonmusk #nigelfarage #crime #ukpolitics #mayor #LBC LBC is the home of live debate around news and current affairs in the UK. Join in the conversation and listen at https://www.lbc.co.uk/ Sign up to LBC’s weekly newsletter here: https://l-bc.co/signup
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0:00
We are just waiting to clear the line, I think, for the Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan
0:03
who is joining us to discuss crime figures that are entirely at odds
0:07
with the ludicrous propaganda punted online, largely by people based overseas, of course
0:13
but also by people from this country who should know better than to tell lies about our own capital city
0:20
because lies, of course, have consequences. And the Mayor of London is with me now
0:25
I should congratulate you first, Sadiq Khan, on your imminent peerage. It's a long way, isn't it, from a two-team bus driver's son to the House of Lords
0:36
Oh, listen, I mean, my mum's over the moon. It's an honour for the family, really, to see me soon, hopefully, be in the House of Lords
0:43
It means I can use that place to be a better mayor
0:48
but it's obviously a source of huge pride to my family, much to my mum, my siblings, my nephews, nieces
0:54
and all those people who have known me over the last 55 years. I'm incredibly proud
0:59
But it's always nice when you make your family proud, as you know. Maybe not quite as proud as that
1:05
And now to the figures. You've been quite outspoken in the past, and indeed more recently
1:10
about the attempts to portray our city as a dystopian hellhole. Your phrase, not mine, with people like Elon Musk and Nigel Farage
1:18
you're describing as the captains of online disinformation. The official figures rather give the lie to an awful lot of what is an old phrase, isn't there
1:28
that a lie is halfway around the world before the truth has got its trousers on
1:33
So let's hear more about the figures and then let's address the question of whether or not they will actually do much
1:38
to address the perceptions, the false perceptions of London. Look, one of the joys of a democracy, and it's a responsibility I take seriously, is to be held to account
1:49
I think it's right and proper for people like me, the Prime Minister and others to be held to account and challenged in a range of issues
1:56
What I think is unacceptable is for there to be disinformation, misinformation and lies
2:02
I mean, ysis shows over the last couple of years, there's been a 200% increase in stories on social media saying London is dangerous and London is in decline
2:12
At the start of this year, we set out figures to do with violence across the board
2:19
which showed the huge strides we'd made in London, homicide at all-time low
2:23
By the way, lower than Berlin, Barcelona, Brussels, Paris, Milan, Madrid, Toronto
2:32
every single state in the USA. The fewest teenage murders this century
2:37
Today, new figures published shows a significant reduction in neighbourhood crime across London
2:45
35,000 fewer neighbourhood crimes. That means 35,000 fewer victims of robbery, of theft, of vehicle crime, of burglary
2:55
Here in the West End, where I am, a reduction by 50% of phones being stolen
3:01
And so a combination of police hard work, city hall investment shows we are on any metrics, I say, for city
3:08
But earlier on this year, I was really pleased to receive international recognition
3:13
The Nobel Prize for Cities the Lee Kuan Yew Prize said that we the best city in the world And so you could understand why if you somebody who a nativist populist you got a city that liberal that progressive that multicultural and it incredibly successful That why they hate us
3:27
I mean alongside this there's research and this is published in Rupert Murdoch's Times newspaper
3:32
today research commissioned by the property developer London Square finding that 64 percent
3:37
of working age people in New York Singapore Dupuy Hong Kong and Paris would choose to live in London
3:42
if given the chance with nearly half of them thinking that this city offers the best career
3:47
opportunities for skilled professionals also citing its its stability and safety I mean I
3:53
understand what you've just said about I mean also you don't mention your personal role in the
3:57
process you know a fully integrated three-time winning muslim mayor is their worst nightmare in
4:04
many ways when they're trying to pretend that we can't live together in harmony and that we we can't
4:08
recognize humanity above ethnicity religion or any other label that we that we put on each other
4:14
but it is surreal right we've touched on this before i mean you will meet people i was with the
4:18
guy that founded wikipedia not long ago jimmy wales i mean he moves in elevated circles and
4:23
he's bumping into people in silicon valley who are saying to him oh i don't know how you can live in london it's not just online racists who've who've bought this bilge it is decent people as
4:33
well who've been sold a completely bogus picture of our capital of our city absolutely and the
4:39
problem with these algorithms the way they work is they monetize hatred i call them the division
4:44
dividend uh it's an outrage economy what's happening is that people now have set up bot farms to make
4:49
money out of slagging off uh london there's an industry there but also we now know there are
4:54
state actors not just russia and china but also maga backed influences in the usa and and my
4:59
criticism is is not just of them although i do criticize them but it's british politicians and
5:04
the commentariat who jump on this bandwagon and who should know better and i think it's unpatriotic
5:09
by the way to slag off the capital city when the evidence isn't there to slag yourself i'm more than
5:13
happy to be criticized hold me to account you often do so to your listeners base it on evidence
5:18
and facts not on misinformation disinformation and uh lies and it is a fact that i'm a proud
5:24
londoner i'm proudly english i'm proudly british but yes i am muslim of pakistani heritage but
5:29
don't hold that against my great city um we will move on to slightly bigger or not not bigger but
5:35
more national issues now is andy burnham going to be a better prime minister than keir starmer
5:39
i think uh people know my friendship with keir starmer uh he he's the guy that you know rescued
5:46
our party from almost oblivion after we lost in 2019 i think andy's building on the progress
5:52
care made over the last two years and i think the first week has been fantastic for london and the
5:58
country i'm inundated uh from messages from the pubs bars and restaurants in london grateful
6:05
about the um you know the refuge coming around the corner with the reduction in business rates
6:10
it's really important to build on that we have a cost of living crisis but also a cost of doing
6:14
business uh crisis as well you didn't answer my question i mean i know you know that but for the
6:19
benefit of people listening. Is he going to do it? Do you think he will prove to be a better
6:23
Prime Minister than Keir Starmer did? I hope we're not going to get in two years' time people
6:28
calling for Andy to go I think the issue is this I think in this country generally speaking and across the globe we give too much credit and do some sorts when somebody doing well you know say they doing incredibly well So when somebody doing not so well
6:43
we slag them off too much as well. I think, you know, call calm heads what we need, and I'm a friend of Andy's as well, I should also declare. I think he's had a cracking first week
6:50
and I'm looking forward to him building on that. When did you last speak to him? On Friday, face to face, and we text, we obviously text and stuff
6:58
Any worries about London losing out as he shifts power, money and focus to the regions
7:07
I've had a number of London businesses, London politicians and people in London
7:12
expressing to me their concern about an Andy Burnham premiership because the concern would be London loses out
7:19
All the conversations I've had with Andy and all the reassurances Andy gives me means I can say to you with confidence Andy Burnham will be a pro-London Prime Minister
7:26
He gets the importance of our capital city. He understands we contribute £4 of every £10 the government coffers receive
7:33
But also he knows we could do even more with more powers and resources
7:38
And the conversations I've had with Andy Burnham and his team are really encouraging for him
7:41
recognising that London, Birmingham, Manchester, Liverpool, Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland, all need more powers from Whiteside
7:49
The words take back control, if they're going to be meaningful, must be cities, towns and regions all getting more control
7:55
Speaking of control, NSO are, of course, going into the Lords in order to serve in Andy Burnham's cabinet
8:00
You are, as we discussed at the outset of this conversation, also being elevated, which, of course, could free you up
8:06
if you decided not to run as Mayor of London again for a role in a future cabinet of Andy Burnham's
8:12
I will ask you for... Keith, what was it? I'll ask you for the 713th time
8:17
are you going to run for London Mayor again? For the 715th time, I'll respond by saying
8:25
I always answer that question in my third year. you know i joke about being a mayor for seven terms but you know it's always in the third year
8:31
in term one term two and term three and probably term four and term five when i'll announce my
8:36
intentions um so it's another no uh and just in conclusion uh two stories today the one about
8:43
crime figures and that doesn't really touch on homicide the announcement today is more about
8:48
um street crime neighborhood crime things like that it's the neighborhood crime yeah yeah i mean
8:53
I know that really blights the communities. I mean, of course, I'm really proud of the progress made on homicides
8:59
and teenage murders, more to be done there. But it's the robberies and the thefts and the neighbourhood crimes
9:06
that are really an issue for many, many people. I know, for example, people are welcome
9:11
There's been a reduction by 50% of phones stolen in the West End. 13,000 fewer phones stolen, which means 13,000 fewer people
9:18
than misery of your phone being stolen. We've calculated, according to this data
9:23
35,000 fewer robberies thefts, vehicle crimes, residential burglaries. That means fewer victims of crimes. This is really
9:31
good news. None of us is complacent the Met or ourselves but it shows the difference
9:36
you know record investment from City Hall plus the police working incredibly hard using the latest
9:41
innovation, data led local police and the difference we can make but it's also
9:45
you know good poke in the eye for those that do capital city down
9:50
Finally, we both mentioned your faith. Figures released today show that one mosque is attacked in Britain every five days This comes from the government own partner in monitoring anti hatred That a figure that is not really reflected in news coverage or perhaps in political will
10:08
Does central government do enough to address the very specific issue of Islamophobic attacks, attacks on mosques
10:19
I think we need to do more. That includes the mainstream media as well
10:23
to make sure we report when there's been hate crime, particularly towards minority communities
10:28
I'm really ashamed that we've seen an increase in our country of anti-Semitism, anti-Jewish hatred, homophobic crime going up
10:36
but also anti-Muslim crime as well. And the problem is, James, when people don't report anti-Muslim hatred
10:43
there's an additional grievance that British citizens of Islamic faith feel. We saw recently a horrific incident in Scotland, in Edinburgh
10:53
which was not reported in the mainstream media. And that's not good for community cohesion
10:59
It's not good for raising awareness, but also it's not good for allyship. And I'm hoping that this is a wake-up call for all of us to be better allies of minorities
11:07
who are receiving end of hate crime, but also report the good and the bad and the ugly
11:12
And I'm afraid the great news is I think this is the best city, the best country in the world to be a minority, to be a Muslim
11:18
But the bad news is we've seen an increase in anti-Muslim hatred. And by the way, it's not helped by the algorithms and the way Elon Musk and his accolades and others like him behave in having this division dividend, putting out negative stories, misinformation, which leads to prejudice, hatred and the sort of stuff you're talking about
11:35
I lied. That wasn't my last question. A quick word on the business rates cut
11:40
A suggestion in some quarters that it's not enough to make a meaningful difference to the hospitality industry, although, of course, simultaneously, it's better
11:47
Oh, it's a start. Right. Honestly, it's a start. We've seen this week some really good progress in terms of cost of living being issued, being addressed
11:55
But this is the cost of doing business issue. And, you know, more than half a million Londoners, more than half a million work in hospitality
12:02
They've had a horrible few years with the pandemic. But also, listen, business rates going up, the national insurance increase, all adds up
12:09
And so this is respite for them. They can plan now for next year
12:13
If they were thinking about closing down, they can not close down. If they were thinking about expanding, they can be expanding
12:18
And there's more, I'm hoping, good news to come over the course of the next few weeks, but also in the budget that John Healy will deliver later on this year
12:25
Last word to Kenny. He says, Can you ask Mr Khan how he got into the House of Lords
12:28
As far as I can see, he's not incompetent and I've not heard of any corruption. He'll feel so out of place
12:35
Well, there's no PPE farce lane, I'm afraid, for those of us with a certain background to get in the House of Lords
12:40
But look, just on a personal note, it's just I can't tell you how happy my family are
12:46
And that may mean nothing to people across the country. But, you know, when you're the son of immigrants, your mum was a seamstress, worked incredibly hard
12:54
Your listeners better know this. Drove buses for more than 25 years
12:58
You're from a councillor's state, gone to state primary and secondary school. Speak like I do
13:03
To be told by the prime minister you're going to be in the House of Lords is a pinch me moment
13:09
And I'm very proud. And can I just thank all those who've sent me good wishes. I try to respond to those that have personally when I can
13:15
And those that have an apology, I'll get back to you soon
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