We spoke to Zoë Garbett at her campaign launch about key issues and why she loves London.
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00:00 Um, EULAZ, I'm sure you've been asked a lot about it.
00:03 What are your thoughts on EULAZ?
00:05 So I'm in support of anything that brings in clean air
00:07 and improves people's health and well-being,
00:09 but we need to do that in a fair way and we need to listen to people.
00:11 And I hear that too, that it hasn't been brought in in that fair way
00:14 and people didn't feel kind of consulted on.
00:16 So what I'm talking about is looking at how we charge road users in general.
00:20 We know that the congestion charge is outdated and it's about
00:24 sitting down and looking at all those different charges
00:27 and how it might work differently.
00:28 Because I think the current charge is quite unfair.
00:30 Like you can go a short distance, but we charge quite a lot
00:32 and it seems to be charging a few people a lot
00:35 rather than really looking at everything that we should take into account.
00:38 So the weight of the vehicle and the damage it might do to the road,
00:41 the time of day, the location, how frequently and how often people use their car.
00:46 But this would be very much a conversation with Londoners,
00:49 setting that out in the first year and hopefully bringing in a change
00:52 by the end of the first term, if that's what Londoners want.
00:55 You spoke a lot about wanting to create a better London for private renters.
01:00 Can you just elaborate on what that would look like?
01:02 Yeah, I'm a private renter in London and I know how insecure it can feel.
01:06 And I hear from other private renters who don't even want to complain about repairs
01:10 because they're worried about their rent going up or being evicted.
01:12 I think that's terrible.
01:13 I want to look at that balance and make sure that renters have got more power,
01:18 more and more voice.
01:20 One of the things I want to set about doing is setting up a rent commission,
01:22 which would look at putting forward a case for rent controls.
01:26 So the mayor of London needs the power to do that.
01:28 But I think setting up a rent control now, rent commission now,
01:31 rather than waiting for those powers to be handed down,
01:33 we'll put forward a stronger case.
01:35 And then the idea would be that we're ready, that when we get the powers,
01:38 we can freeze rents and start to bring them down.
01:41 How important is it to you that just London becomes a more affordable place to live?
01:45 Yeah, absolutely.
01:46 This is, you know, we're seeing people being priced out of the city
01:49 and the day to day becoming more and more expensive.
01:51 So I'm all about listening to people and making sure that we can make things
01:55 within the mayor's control, you know, as affordable as possible.
01:58 And one of the biggest things we can do is transport for London.
02:01 I want, you know, I've got an ambition of making it more and more affordable
02:04 for more people.
02:05 You know, cities across Europe have got much cheaper transport systems,
02:09 but we need more government funding to do that for everyone.
02:11 So I'm pitching to bring that in for older people.
02:16 So the pre 9am travel that older people really, really miss,
02:19 you know, they're missing health appointments or caring responsibilities
02:23 because they don't have that pre 9am travel.
02:24 And then, yeah, bringing in for under 22s,
02:26 because I think that they deserve free bus travel to get out and about
02:29 and to also form those habits of using the bus.
02:32 You're running for mayor of London.
02:34 What makes London so special for you?
02:36 What do you love about London?
02:38 Oh, there's so much I love about London.
02:40 I love its diversity.
02:41 I love its vibrancy.
02:42 I love its markets.
02:43 I'm quite obsessed with London street markets as well as its nightlife.
02:48 I just enjoyed all the people that are here.
02:50 And I just think it's got a real sense of community
02:52 and sense of excitement about it.
02:54 And I want to protect that and make sure people are safe here
02:57 and can thrive here.
02:59 Zoe is running against Labour's current London mayor, Sadiq Khan,
03:03 the Conservative candidate, Susan Hall,
03:05 the Liberal Democrats candidate, Rob Blackie,
03:07 and Reform UK's candidate, Howard Cox.
03:10 All other candidates have been offered an interview.