Our endorsements for Thursday’s London mayor and local elections in Britain

On Thursday, Londoners will go to the polls to choose a new mayor (or to re-elect the current occupant of City Hall). Judging by his record during the last four years –and taking into account that, in reality, this is a two-way contest–, we believe the Conservative Boris Johnson deserves another term as Mayor of London. Despite his sometimes mercurial personality, Mr Johnson has proved to be a good mayor. We believe he has the right ideas on tax, transport, business and the environment. He has demonstrated having an independent mind, defying his own party –and rightly so– on vital areas for London such as immigration.

On the other side of the political spectrum, the Labour Party chose, once again, a candidate whose proposals seem out of step with the reality of the country.  Besides his questionable connections with extremists, Ken Livingstone’s plans for London are anti-business, anti-growth and reminiscent of Old Labour. We think Mr Livingstone’s time is up.       

Finally, the minor parties offer a mixed package. On the one hand, the Liberal Democrats have selected in the figure of Brian Paddick a decent, competent man. He has put forward interesting proposals on crime and the environment but, unfortunately, his campaign hasn’t taken off. On the other hand, the Green Party is giving us another of their usual doses of delusion, proposing more taxes, more spending and more statism.

With this scenario in mind, if RealLibs had a vote on Thurday’s London mayoral election, we would split it between Mr Paddick –as our first preference– and Mr Johnson –as our second preference–, which effectively means endorsing Boris Johnson for a second term.

But Londoners are not the only ones who will be voting on Thurday. Across Britain, local elections are taking place the same day. For the local elections, we have decided to support two parties: the Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats. We believe the national Coalition Government has served Britain well since it came to power in 2010. After a few tough weeks for the government, we believe it would be good for the Coalition to have a reassuring result on Thusday. And that means voting Conservative in those councils in which the Lib Dems are usually third in preferences, and voting Lib Dem in those in which the Tories are generally third. In those councils in which the main battle is between Tories and Lib Dems, we support a vote for the Lib Dems (after all, they need it more than the Tories).  

Finally, we support a “Yes” vote on the mayoral referendums which will be taking place in many cities across England to decide whether or not to have directly-elected mayors.

In the end, our main objective on Thursday is to have a good day for the national Coalition Government.  This will be best served by voting for Boris in London and for Tories and Lib Dems across Britain.