7th April, 2021 – The Social Democratic Party (SDP) has announced that Steve Kelleher will run as the party’s candidate to be Mayor of London. This follows the SDP’s recent announcement of David Bettney as its candidate in the Hartlepool parliamentary by-election.
A native Londoner, Kelleher is the son of Irish immigrants and grew up around the Elephant & Castle. He works in recruitment in the City, is the father of five children and coaches cricket locally in his spare time.
As Mayor of London, Kelleher will apply three simple core policies that will work to the benefit of all Londoners. These will be funded through cuts in wasteful overheads identified across the GLA, TfL and the Metropolitan Police.
- 50,000 NEW COUNCIL HOUSES – The SDP aims for 50,000 new council houses to be built in the capital every year by 2024. In addition, priority access to council housing will be given to those who were born, raised or currently live in a borough.
- BACK THE POLICE – Policing in London has become both politicised and divorced from the everyday concerns of Londoners. Assertive community foot patrols are the way to both drastically cut crime rates and to start to restore public confidence in the Met. The SDP will aim to increase the number of officers on the beat across the capital by 10,000.
- FREE PUBLIC TRANSPORT FOR YOUNG PEOPLE – To help young Londoners better face the cost of living crisis and build their savings, the SDP will make free public transport available to all under-25s for the next three years. Occasional free travel will be made available to anyone who has lived in the capital for five consecutive years.
“I’m an ordinary person, disaffected by the two party politics that has dominated life in the UK for as long as I can remember,” says SDP London Mayoral candidate Steve Kelleher. “But I’ve seen the fall-out from that most clearly in the city where I’ve lived all my life. And now I want to see positive change. I’ve long struggled to find a party whose policies struck me as coherent, balanced and practicable – but the SDP has those policies. I believe it’s time some common sense was allowed to take root in the way the capital is managed.”
“London is at a crossroads – in terms of its influence globally, in terms of its standing within the nation, in terms of what makes it work for its hugely diverse yet remarkably cohesive population,” adds William Clouston, leader of the Social Democratic Party. “It’s self-evident that a lack of clear, people-first thinking has consistently led the capital down blind alleys and its people into unnecessary conflict. We need a fresh, more pragmatic approach if London is to retain its vibrancy, creativity and collective spirit.”