What should the next Mayor of London do in his first 100 days in power?

ConservativeHome in conjunction with the London Policy Institute today launches a debate to attempt an answer to this question.  The Mayor of London is one of the most powerful executive positions in British politics with a control of a £12bn budget and substantial responsibilities for policing and transport and with a leading role to play in range of issues of vital importance to the future of London.

James Morris, Director of the London Policy Institute, offers 5 initial suggestions.

1. Take direct responsibility for the fight against violent crime.  Take over the chairmanship of the Metropolitian Police Authority and call high profile, public meeting with the Metropolitian Police Commissioner. Publish specific action plan for combating violent crime and start tackling the problem from day one.  Announce a series of monthly public meetings to track progress on the plan. Call for all Londoners to join in the fight. Make some high profile visits to trouble spots. Get momentum going.
2. Announce radical financial review of the GLA, its statutory bodies including a review of the Mayor's budget. The financial review should examine all aspects the Mayor's remit includng the Met and Transport for London and should deliver preliminary recommendations within the first 100 days. The review should consist of how many is spent, financial transparency and should look for tangible cost savings which can reduce the size of the GLA bureaucracy and free up resources.
3. Appoint new head of Transport for London. This is a crucial first appointment. Needs to be someone with a track record and the drive to take on the challenge of delivering tangible improvements to London's transport system, by investing more wisely, ensuring Cross-Rail happens and is delivered, and accelerating the upgrade of the underground. This will be a tough assigment but will need real focus.
4. Appoint a Mayoral cabinet.  The Mayor should create a cabinet with individuals responsible for particular portfolios. Cabinet members could be drawn both from the London Assembly and outside to bring in expertise and talent to deliver on the Mayoral objectives.  This will send the signal that the Mayor will govern more collegially and send the signal that improvements to London will come through a process of collaboration not Mayoral diktat.
5. Build bridges with the boroughs.  The Mayor cannot deliver without working with the boroughs. Bring in the borough leaders and agree shared priorities.

What would you prioritise?

Comments

[Jennifer Wells]

The idea of a Mayoral Cabinet is a very good one. A lot of us like Boris but worry about his managerial abilities. Having good people around him will be a real reassurance that he recognises his weakness. With such a guarantee I think many voters will be happier endorsing him. His strategic vision is after all much preferable to Ken's.

[Jim Mcleod]

He has got to be elected first!

[Andrew Ian Dodge]

Do away with LEZ, the congestion charge and vow to cut the "mayor's levy" tax by 1/3 at least. The new mayor needs to do as much as possible to reduce the overwhelming burden of tax on Londoners.

[Editor]

He does Jim but...

(1) Jennifer makes a good point. Many voters will be reassured by Boris announcing his thinking on executive structures before the election. It may help him win.

(2) The time to think about these issues - regardless of electoral considerations - is now.

(3) LPI is a cross-party think tank and my understanding is that James Morris is recommending these ideas to whoever is mayor.

[Gary Elsby]

Boris shouls wake up from his dream/nightmare and get on with making us laugh.

Boris, Mayor of London. Behave all of you.

London belongs to Ken and Ken belongs to labour. Get over it.

[Chris Ward]

COMMENT OVERWRITTEN.

[James Ford]

One of Boris' top priorities should be addressing the London Deficit - the £20 billion a year gap between the amount of money raised in London in taxes and the amount of public spending the capital receives.

The iniquitous Barnett Formula perpetuates the myth that the capital’s streets are somehow paved with gold. In fact, five of the ten most deprived local authorities in the UK are in the capital, 43 per cent of the city’s children live in poverty and half of the UK’s homeless population live on London’s streets.

To cap it all, London's taxpayers are robbed twice - not only do they pay the most per capita in direct taxation, they are then forced to pay a precept on their council tax to fund the Mayor and the Olympics, and London businesses are expected to pay higher business rates to meet the costs of building Crossrail.

Mayor Johnson should use his office to try and get a better deal for Londoners, in the same way that devolution has been very, very generous to Scotland...and Wales...and Northern Ireland.

[FJMS]

The nmost important thing he could do is abolish the London Plan and stop building the slums of the future.

[Mr Angry]

In fact Boris cannot abolish the London Plan, statutorily he has to have a regional structural plan. However his priority number one must be to thoroughly revise it, especially the unachievable house building targets that will permanently blight London and exist only to try to succeed in Herbert Morrison's ambition of building the Tories out of London. Because this revision will take a long time, since it has to go through a series of consultation and public enquiry stages, it needs to be initiated on day one of Boris' administration.

Oh and Gary Elsby if London belongs to Labour then how come us Tories control so many more Councils in London, and therefore the London Councils umbrella organisation, that Labour do?

[Craig Barrett]

He would do worse than bringing Warwick Lightfoot in as an advisor or cabinet member. Lightfoot's ideas and approach in the primary were impressive.

[Andy Woodard]

He should abolish the Congestion Charge straight away - then people can see how much better and cheaper life would be under the Conservatives.

[Londoner]

"With great regret" accept the "voluntarily tendered" resignation of Sir Ian Blair. Failing that, sack him.

I suppose I will be told he would not have the power?

[MartinW]

Sadly, the thing Boris will not be able to do is the cancel those damned Olympics in 2012. We can only dream of it.

[Conservative Homer]

Putting an immediate stop to the funding of ALL minority interest groups, whatever they might be, through public funds, and allow charities to take up the slack.
Might be nice to have someone who governs for the majority for a change, and sees people as people, rather than colour, sexual persuasion, or any other type of potential voting block.

And lobbying for lots of road schemes in outer London would be nice too (ie between the M25 and South/North Circulars), and housing of course, although these will obviously take longer than 100 days.

And cancelling any prearranged Mayoral meetings with third world dictators, despots and convicted murderers wouldnt go amiss either.

I also think he should build the stature of mayors office abroad, much like NY mayors. Ken isnt much well known outside England (probably a blessing)

[karen]

Er, put out an urgent plea for help. Oh, that only applies to one of the candidates.

[Umbrella man]

He needs to establish and implement a strong new code for the civil servants who work for the Mayor. Livingstone has politicised them. He needs to enforce impartiality.

[Deputy Editor]

As I mentioned at the end of our report on Boris' plans to put City Hall's Reigster of Interests online, I think he should do the same with City Hall's spending details.

[Gospel of Enoch]

"Putting an immediate stop to the funding of ALL minority interest groups, whatever they might be, through public funds, and allow charities to take up the slack."

That's a UKIP policy, Homer! Are you going to vote Gerard Batten for first choice? :-)

[Mr Routemaster]

He should rename Transport for London back to 'London Transport' and order a full fleet of 2700 new Routemaster buses with conductors to roll out all over London - not just a token effort in Central London.

[Conservative Homer]

"That's a UKIP policy, Homer! Are you going to vote Gerard Batten for first choice? :-)"

I take it back then! Really i had no idea, although its not surprising, on most issues im somewhere between UKIP and Conservatives stance.

Im not a Londoner unfortunately, so no vote from me anyway.

[Bullingdonian]

Call for help. At times like this, a chap needs reinforcements. Darrie? Darrie? Is that you Darrie?

[Graeme Archer]

Sack Ian Blair. At first press conference announce "I'm sure the Home Secretary will tell me I haven't the legal authority to do this. But as your Mayor I do have the moral authority to demand the resignation and departure of London's failed police chief. From illegal executions to the lies which then followed, to his slack-jawed bewilderment in the face of the tsunami of gun-crime that is killing our children at the rate of two a month, this toxic officer has been more interested in being the armed wing of New Labour than in giving London the police leadership we need. He must go and go now".