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  • 3 weeks ago
Sir Keir Starmer accused the Green Party and Reform UK of making “promises they know they can’t keep” as he tried to fend off an unprecedented political squeeze on Labour.The Prime Minister also sought to make housing a central issue for the London borough elections on May 7 as he accused Zack Polanski’s Greens of blocking desperately needed new homes in the capital.

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00:00I think we do need to face up to the fact that there are proxy attacks happening in London.
00:04It is easy for other parties to put forward promises which they know they can't keep.
00:11We stand with our Jewish community. We do and we will.
00:15Prime Minister, the electorates are looming. You're facing a new threat from
00:19the Greens and for reform. What's your message to Londoners?
00:22My message to Londoners is that we've got fantastic candidates, fantastic councillors,
00:28who really worked hard to deliver the services that matter. We as a government are centrally
00:33focused on what matters to Londoners, in particular housing under London MP.
00:39I know what comes in the inbox. It is housing, housing, housing. We don't have enough housing
00:43and that's why we've got plans to increase our housing working with the mayor.
00:48Whilst we're putting those plans in place and getting those houses built, what are Greens doing?
00:52They're blocking all of these houses being built. For Londoners, that is the wrong answer.
00:57We're also managing through a very difficult situation globally. We've got a war on Ukraine and Iran.
01:04We're not getting dragged into the wall with Iran, but we must protect our country from the impacts of
01:10that and that's the context in which we're working. But I'll never lose sight of what matters to Londoners
01:15and that's the cost of living. We are governing in difficult circumstances given the global context.
01:20It is easy for other partners to put forward promises which they know they can't keep.
01:27But if you look at Labour councils across London, you'll see really well-run services.
01:32You'll see houses being built. In this borough, we've got more houses being built than in any other borough across
01:38London.
01:38That's the thing that matters, focusing on the things that actually make a difference to people's lives.
01:43We have to understand the fear and anxiety and the lack of basic safety and security felt by our Jewish
01:49community.
01:50And we often say we stand with our Jewish community. We do and we will, but it actually has to
01:56be our fight as well.
01:58It has to be a whole society fight. We need to see this as a fight that is not just
02:03alongside our Jewish community.
02:05Of course it is that. But it's also a fight for what we believe in, the tolerant, reasonable country.
02:10I want people to be able to express their identity, to be able to practice their faith and their religion,
02:17go to their synagogues, to their schools, to their streets, safe and secure. That is the country that we have
02:23to fight for or we will fight it for.
02:25And just earlier, you were very clear that London is under a tax, these arson tax, that it's been done
02:30by a proxy.
02:31Presumably you mean Iran and the IRGC.
02:33I think we do need to face up to the fact that there are proxy attacks happening in London.
02:39And that's why I named Tract Iran this morning. And that's why we will cast Tract legislation to deal with
02:44malign powers so we could take more measures.
02:48But yes, that is a feature of this. It's not the only feature because anti-Semitism has been with us
02:53for a very long time.
02:54And I know from personal experience, the Labour Party, you have to keep coming back to it and fighting it.
03:00And that's what we can do.
03:01And on another issue that really matters to London, how do you stop so many tube strikes by the RMG
03:07causing travel misery for Londoners?
03:08Well, let me start by saying how frustrating it is for Londoners every time this happens. We need to get
03:13everybody back around the table. We need to resolve this as quickly as possible.
03:17Well, firstly, I think it is worth pointing out that the homicide rate is coming down. Any homicide is a
03:27tragedy.
03:28But the fact the rate is coming down does show the work that the mayor is doing with the Labour
03:32government on this.
03:34Of course, we need to do more on things like knife crime, taking a number of measures there, including banning
03:39the sale of online knives, working with others on the preventative model.
03:43This is a huge issue for what we're doing in the city, because I know from my own constituency, the
03:47devastating impact that knife crime can have.
03:50And we're doing everything we can to reduce that, to mitigate that so other families don't have to go through
03:55what some of the families have already been through.
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