James Hockney LLB (Hons)

I was delighted to attend the Conservative Friends of Bangladesh AGM at the Houses of Parliament last night.

It was a very packed room, so much so, that we were moved to a larger committee room!

In all there are now over 26 CFoB branches across the UK including one in Scotland. Members visited from all over the Country including representatives from Manchester and Portsmouth.

At the meeting I was very pleased to have been elected as the Honorary Secretary to the CFoB board. So I will now have some minutes to type up!

After a very productive meeting with a number of Members of Parliament addressing the meeting (including Anne Main, David McIntosh, Bob Blackman and Mark Field) many of us then went to the local curry house, Millbank Spice.

There will be a by-election soon in Tooting, and I am sure the CFoB will be actively campaigning there!

It has been a real pleasure campaigning for Zac Goldsmith, a strong voice for London. On the three occasions I have met Zac during the campaign he has always come across as a warm and genuine person and his speeches filled with a clear cut message and vision for the future of London.

Whilst making telephone calls at the Conservative Campaign Headquarters, Zac arrived with a stack of pizzas to keep the activist
team going. The Conservative Party really is a united team working together.

His four key pledges are;

Start fixing London’s housing crisis by:

1. Doubling home building to 50,000 a year by 2020 and ensuring development is in keeping with the local area
2. Giving Londoners the first chance to buy new homes built in London
3. Ensuring a significant proportion of all new homes are only for rent and not for sale

Improve the capacity and reliability of London’s transport system by:

1. Ensuring the Night Tube goes ahead, starting Crossrail 2, and growing the rail network.
2. Bringing suburban rail services under the Mayor’s control to increase and improve the service.
3. Protecting the Freedom Pass.

Improve London’s living environment by:

1. Protecting the green belt from development.
2. Tackling air pollution with tougher rules on HGVs, and encouraging greener vehicles and safer cycling.
3. Creating more green spaces and cleaning up local parks so they are safe to visit and enjoy.

Make London’s streets safer by:

1. Protecting neighbourhood police teams and keeping them on the street.
2. Tackling the root causes of crime in local communities.
3. Putting more police on public transport at night.

Today, on the eve of election day, the London Evening Standard endorsed Zac, This cannot be understated as the newspaper reaches about 2 million people a day.