Green’s London mayoral candidate Zoë Garbett on ULEZ and other priorities ahead of the election

National World - LocalTV

We spoke to Zoë Garbett at her campaign launch about key issues and why she loves London.

Transcript

00:00 Um, EULAZ, I'm sure you've been asked a lot about it.

00:03 What are your thoughts on EULAZ?

00:05 So I'm in support of anything that brings in clean air

00:07 and improves people's health and well-being,

00:09 but we need to do that in a fair way and we need to listen to people.

00:11 And I hear that too, that it hasn't been brought in in that fair way

00:14 and people didn't feel kind of consulted on.

00:16 So what I'm talking about is looking at how we charge road users in general.

00:20 We know that the congestion charge is outdated and it's about

00:24 sitting down and looking at all those different charges

00:27 and how it might work differently.

00:28 Because I think the current charge is quite unfair.

00:30 Like you can go a short distance, but we charge quite a lot

00:32 and it seems to be charging a few people a lot

00:35 rather than really looking at everything that we should take into account.

00:38 So the weight of the vehicle and the damage it might do to the road,

00:41 the time of day, the location, how frequently and how often people use their car.

00:46 But this would be very much a conversation with Londoners,

00:49 setting that out in the first year and hopefully bringing in a change

00:52 by the end of the first term, if that's what Londoners want.

00:55 You spoke a lot about wanting to create a better London for private renters.

01:00 Can you just elaborate on what that would look like?

01:02 Yeah, I'm a private renter in London and I know how insecure it can feel.

01:06 And I hear from other private renters who don't even want to complain about repairs

01:10 because they're worried about their rent going up or being evicted.

01:12 I think that's terrible.

01:13 I want to look at that balance and make sure that renters have got more power,

01:18 more and more voice.

01:20 One of the things I want to set about doing is setting up a rent commission,

01:22 which would look at putting forward a case for rent controls.

01:26 So the mayor of London needs the power to do that.

01:28 But I think setting up a rent control now, rent commission now,

01:31 rather than waiting for those powers to be handed down,

01:33 we'll put forward a stronger case.

01:35 And then the idea would be that we're ready, that when we get the powers,

01:38 we can freeze rents and start to bring them down.

01:41 How important is it to you that just London becomes a more affordable place to live?

01:45 Yeah, absolutely.

01:46 This is, you know, we're seeing people being priced out of the city

01:49 and the day to day becoming more and more expensive.

01:51 So I'm all about listening to people and making sure that we can make things

01:55 within the mayor's control, you know, as affordable as possible.

01:58 And one of the biggest things we can do is transport for London.

02:01 I want, you know, I've got an ambition of making it more and more affordable

02:04 for more people.

02:05 You know, cities across Europe have got much cheaper transport systems,

02:09 but we need more government funding to do that for everyone.

02:11 So I'm pitching to bring that in for older people.

02:16 So the pre 9am travel that older people really, really miss,

02:19 you know, they're missing health appointments or caring responsibilities

02:23 because they don't have that pre 9am travel.

02:24 And then, yeah, bringing in for under 22s,

02:26 because I think that they deserve free bus travel to get out and about

02:29 and to also form those habits of using the bus.

02:32 You're running for mayor of London.

02:34 What makes London so special for you?

02:36 What do you love about London?

02:38 Oh, there's so much I love about London.

02:40 I love its diversity.

02:41 I love its vibrancy.

02:42 I love its markets.

02:43 I'm quite obsessed with London street markets as well as its nightlife.

02:48 I just enjoyed all the people that are here.

02:50 And I just think it's got a real sense of community

02:52 and sense of excitement about it.

02:54 And I want to protect that and make sure people are safe here

02:57 and can thrive here.

02:59 Zoe is running against Labour's current London mayor, Sadiq Khan,

03:03 the Conservative candidate, Susan Hall,

03:05 the Liberal Democrats candidate, Rob Blackie,

03:07 and Reform UK's candidate, Howard Cox.

03:10 All other candidates have been offered an interview.

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