Keith Prince AM: What is the plan for capital's recovery?

London has been waiting for the Mayor's economic recovery plan for nearly six months, and there is still no sign of it. As thousands of Londoners worry about their jobs and businesses, Sadiq Khan's silence on how City Hall can protect and restore livelihoods is deafening.

Once it is safe to do so, it is Khan's responsibility to get our city moving, get Londoners back into the office, ramp up housebuilding and deliver long-awaited transport upgrades to kickstart London's recovery. The speed and success of the capital's recovery will depend on action from City Hall, not only Government.

Without a plan, City Hall won't be ready to fire up the capital's recovery once the virus is under control. Sadiq Khan has had months to come up with a recovery strategy, and by failing to publish it, if it exists, he is putting jobs and businesses at risk.

My Conservative colleagues and I tabled a motion in the London Assembly demanding Khan publish his plan to give businesses confidence and allow them time to plan. Political parties backed our call across the Assembly, and the message to the Mayor was clear: get off your backside and publish your plan.

It's frankly disgraceful that Sadiq Khan has been campaigning for harsher, stricter and more punitive Covid restrictions while saying nothing about what he will do to protect Londoners' livelihoods. No other Mayor in the country has been as eager to shut down the city they serve.

As London looks to the difficult winter months ahead and our city's long battle to keep the virus under control, they will want to know their Mayor has a plan to rebuild. Sadiq Khan's lack of vision for our city's recovery is becoming glaringly apparent as the Government increasingly has to step in to save London.

Article by Keith Prince AM first published in the Romford Recorder.