Darren Johnson transcript

13 April 2012
Darren Johnson, the Green Party's candidate for mayor of London, took part in a live chat with This is London's readers about the election and his plans for the capital.


moderator The vote to decide London's mayor is just over a month away and This is London is giving you the chance to chat to many of the candidates about their plans for the capital.

Darren Johnson, the Green Party candidate for London mayor, joins us today to talk about why he thinks you should vote for him.

Darren is the leader of the Green Party in the London Assembly and is also one of the party's best-known faces. He took part in the 2000 race for mayor and was the first Green to take a seat on Lewisham Council in 2002.

Hi Darren - welcome and thanks very much for joining us today!

Hi Darren - welcome and thanks very much for joining us today!

darren_johnson Delighted to be here!

milknhoney Will Londoners vote for a candidate who wants to extend the congestion charge to the M25?

darren_johnson Well obviously, if I was just suggesting one single zone for the whole of London it wouldn't work. What I'm proposing is 3 separate zones. Residents would get a 90% discount for travelling in their own area, but we really need to tackle traffic problems across London, not just in central London.

By supporting CC last time, Londoner's showed that they are ready for bold new ideas to tackle the city's problems.

My plans for extending the CC is another bold step.

milknhoney Do you support the Olympics bid?

darren_johnson I would dearly love to see London hosting to Olympics. But my worry is that we're rushing into this bid. London has so many problems - transport, environmental, housing. My fear is that the Olympics could be a big distraction at this stage.

I think we'd be better off concentrating on the bread and butter issues and launching a much stronger bid for the Olympics in the future.

david_em Why is the Green Party not as popular here as it is in other European countries?

darren_johnson Well you might be surprised to learn that Greens got a stronger vote for the London assembly last time than the German Greens did for the Berlin Assembly.

What has held us back in the past has been Britain's unfair electoral system. But with proportional representation for the GLA European Parliament and Scottish Parliament the Green vote has risen dramatically and more and more Greens are getting elected. Voting Green can no longer be dismissed

georgeee What do you think about the proposed Thames bridge in East London?

darren_johnson I want to see new rail crossings in East London. But I am totally opposed to Ken LIvingstone's plans to build a massive six-lane motorway bridge across the Thames which will just bring more traffic and more pollution.

Instead of squandering 450 million pounds on this road bridge I will be putting the money into public transport and improvements for cyclists and pedestrians.

moderator This question arrived via email:
Many visitors to London have said that London is much dirtier than they expected. What would you do to spruce things up?

darren_johnson Our streets are often too dirty and littered with fly tipping and graffiti. I am proposing a new capital standard programme working with the boroughs to ensure that all fly tipping and graffiti is removed within 24 hours of it being reported. We also need to tackle the dirty polluted air in this city.

That's why I'm proposing to extend the CC and introduce a low-emission zone which would ban the most polluting vehicles from the city. This is what they've done in a number of Swedish cities and I want to do it here.

battles1 What would you do to improve the Tube if you were elected?

darren_johnson We need solid investment in the Tube. I think privatisation will turn out to be a disaster for the Tube just as it has been for the railways. I will be pushing hard to bring the Tube back into public ownership like the vast majority of Londoners want. We need real improvements in stations, signaling and proper access for disabled people.

moderator Sara asks:
There are major incentives to recycle in major cities all over the world. Why is it SOOO hard to get a decent recycling programme here in London?!

darren_johnson It’s sad isn't it? Recycling isn't rocket science. Sadly, that hasn't been the political will in London to really get it off the ground.

I intend to change that. Not only do I want to improve the collection facilities for recyclable materials from people's homes, I also want to kick-start the recycling industry in London. It's no good just collecting the stuff if you don't know what to do with it. We need to seize the economic opportunities which is why I'll be working for recycled paper mills, a plastics recycling plant and other green industries helping the environment and creating jobs.

moderator Thanks Darren - this is great!

battles1 Should smoking be banned in all restaurants and bars in London?

darren_johnson I would favour that as the norm following the example in Ireland. Greens have long believed that smoking should be banned in enclosed public spaces. However, exemption licenses could be applied for in certain circumstances, but I want to see smoking in bars and pubs the exception rather than the norm.

little_lol How hard is it for a candidate from outside the ''big three' parties to get coverage and votes?

darren_johnson Having done it last time, it seems a lot easier this time.

Last time I came into the contest as a complete unknown, this time I'm coming in as an elected politician with a track record and a profile. This time I'm not just standing to raise awareness and highlight our policies. This time I'm standing because I know I can do a better job than Ken Livingstone as mayor and it's about time London had a Green mayor.

david_em Hi Darren. What's the first thing you would do if you were elected mayor?

darren_johnson The very first thing I would do is to scrap the outgoing mayor's 1.2 billion £ road building programme and put that money into public transport and facilities for cyclists and pedestrians.

moderator Here's another question that has been sent in via email:
If you can't win who would you like to win?

darren_johnson I'm in this contest to maximise the Green vote and I'm not making any recommendations on who people should give their second preference to.

prj45 Don't you think Ken is already doing enough to improve the environment?

darren_johnson I have congratulated him on the success of CC however, in other areas Ken Livingstone has been a real disappointment. He's supporting new road building and airport expansion, he's given planning permission for development on important green sites like Erith marshes and whilst he has made some progress on other environmental issues a lot if it has been painfully slow.

He spends more each year on his free propaganda newspaper, The Londoner, than he spends on his entire GLA environment budget. I can't wait to get in there and do a better job.

moderator A question from a reader via email:
Wouldn't your policies lead to tax rises?

darren_johnson We have always said that the wealthiest should pay more. However, I am not into spending public money just for the sake of it. There is a lot of waste at City Hall. Too much money being spent on spin and propaganda and not enough spent on front-line services.

I will also make major savings by scraping the road building budget which would help pay for many of my public transport plans.

kasalan On your website it says that Ken Livingstone described your political course as "lunatic". Why did he say that?

darren_johnson Ken likes the Greens when we are supporting him - such as on the CC. However, he seems to have a big problem when Greens disagree with him. But we need to speak out on the issues that concern us and point out when politicians from other political parties are making big mistakes.

moderator Thanks Darren.

ilanshefer I use a compost bin for most of my waste - would you give me a council tax discount?

darren_johnson Yes. I think it's important that we give people incentives for recycling and composting.

moderator Joanna wants to know:
How does Darren explain the Green Party proposals for a new Housing for London authority and how will they help to provide more affordable housing?

darren_johnson Just as we have Transport for London set up to tackle London's transport problems, we need a similar body to tackle London's strategic housing problems. Working with local authorities and others to brin empty properties back into use, to guarantee more affordable housing to rent and to buy. I also want to see an end to the sell-off of council housing.

moderator This next question will have to be our last for today...

bubblefluff You say you want to direct Police resources at violent crime. How do you propose to police non-violent crime?

darren_johnson I have said that tackling violent crime should be a top priority and that we don't waste Police resources on victimless crimes like smoking canabis. However, we need to ensure a more visible Police presence at the neighborhood level. I would want to make efficiency savings by cutting down on centralised bureaucracy and putting more resources into providing beat Officers and re-opening local Police stations where they are needed.

We also need to tackle the causes of crime and I want to ensure that we invest properly in Youth Services giving young people something worthwhile to do. Cutting Youth Services has been a false economy and has just led to an increase in crime that could have been avoided. We need to reverse that.

moderator I'm afraid that's all we have time for. Thanks to everyone - especially to Darren for joining us today. How did you find the chat?

darren_johnson I enjoyed it!

moderator Excellent - all the best with the campaign!

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