Tag: Sadiq Khan

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Mural to pay tribute to England’s EURO2020 performance

Urban street artists MurWalls created the artwork to help Londoners and visitors celebrate the capital’s role in hosting the European championships…reports Asian Lite News.

Following England’s journey to the UEFA EURO2020 final, the Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, has announced that a work of art will be painted in central London to pay tribute to the team’s performance.

The mural of manager Gareth Southgate, captain Harry Kane and boy-from-Brent Raheem Sterling will be unveiled at Vinegar Yard in London Bridge this morning.

Urban street artists MurWalls created the artwork to help Londoners and visitors celebrate the capital’s role in hosting the European championships.

The Mayor said: “What an amazing month the England team have given us during the EURO2020 tournament.

“On behalf of all Londoners, I want to congratulate the magnificent England football team and their wonderful manager Gareth Southgate on making it to the final of the competition.

“The mural created by MurWalls unveiled today is a wonderful celebration of a team that have inspired and united our nation in our time of need. I encourage as many people as possible to take a look and get out and about in our wonderful capital this summer,” he added.

Marc Silver, founder of MurWalls, said: “Football may not quite have come home but pride in our national team certainly did – and that’s in no small part down to the leadership of Gareth Southgate. On and off the field, he and his players are true role models for young Londoners and we’re delighted to be working with the Mayor to celebrate their historic achievement on home turf. We look forward to honouring them going one better next year!”

Neil Benson, Vinegar Yard said: “It’s been amazing seeing fans and friends get together again at Vinegar Yard and support the England team in the Euros. We’re proud to have these murals on display at Vinegar Yard to show our support for Gareth Southgate and the team who inspired the nation.”

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Mayor, Met set out plans to tackle violence in London

(Source twitter@MayorofLondon)

Londoners will see an increased police presence in areas of the city this summer, as the Met steps up its targeted enforcement activity, reports Asian Lite News

The Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, and the Met Police have set out plans for the police, City Hall, local authorities and criminal justice partners to work more closely across London to drive down violence ahead of the summer.

ALSO READ – New investment for green spaces across London

The Met and City Hall have set out their continued partnership approach and a strong plan to tackle violence, focusing on enforcement to bear down on offenders, and early intervention to provide positive opportunities and prevent violence from happening in the first place. 

Met
(Source twitter@MayorofLondon)

Londoners will see an increased police presence in areas of the city this summer, as the Met steps up its targeted enforcement activity.

Alongside that, the Mayor has also announced £2.4 million of additional investment through London’s Violence Reduction Unit (VRU), for up to 4,000 school-aged children both during the summer and beyond.

The investment, which is on top of the record £20m Sadiq has invested in the VRU, is focused on programmes running in areas including Brent, Enfield, Barking & Dagenham, Havering, Redbridge, Waltham Forest and Camden.

The Mayor on Friday joined Met police officers on patrol in Kentish Town, to see first-hand the work neighbourhood officers are doing to keep the area safe and to bear down on violence. 

(Source twitter@MayorofLondon)

“Tackling violence and making our city safer is my number one priority and I’m determined to be tough on crime with support for the Met Police, and tough on the complex causes of crime, with support for our communities,” Sadiq Khan said. 

“As lockdown restrictions continue to ease ahead of the summer holidays, it’s really important we work together to address concerns about a potential rise in violence.

“Working with the Met Police, the National Probation Service, London’s Violence Reduction Unit, local authorities and other criminal justice partners across London, we have a strong plan in place to suppress violence with targeted enforcement of violent offenders, combined with support to help divert people away from crime and a programme to provide positive opportunities for young Londoners,” he added.

(Source twitter@MayorofLondon)

Meanwhile, Assistant Commissioner Nick Ephgrave of the Met Police said: “The Met is stepping up its operations to suppress and deal with violence as much as we can over the summer with a large scale multi layered operations that will target the six strands of the Serious Violence Strategy. Working closely with our partners and the Mayor to explore opportunities and take action through meaningful interventions to prevent violence from occurring in the first place.

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New investment for green spaces across London

Mayor visited the Cookbook Edible Library project in Tottenham, which is enabling the local community to grow and cook their own food and providing positive opportunities for young people, reports Asian Lite News

Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan has announced a further £6 million of fresh investment in improving green spaces across London.

The £1.2m Grow Back Greener fund, with £500,000 provided by Thames Water, will offer grants to dozens of community-led projects to help more Londoners access green space in their neighbourhoods, the Mayor’s Office said.

It will focus on the most disadvantaged areas, supporting community gardens, food growing projects, pocket parks and cleaner waterways.

Separately, the new £4m Green and Resilient Spaces Fund will support large-scale green space projects, helping to tackle the climate emergency by reducing the risk of floods and keeping the city cool, it said.

This could include restoring rivers, creating new wetlands, opening up new green connections between parks, or creating new woodlands.  

Funding will be targeted where it is most needed, using cutting-edge data, including new climate risk mapping, that highlights where Londoners are most vulnerable to the impacts of climate change. It will also target areas with the least access to public open space.  

The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the vital importance of London’s green spaces for Londoners’ health and wellbeing. London’s parks saw the highest increase in usage of anywhere in the country during the first lockdown last spring.

Yet it has also brought into sharp focus the inequalities in access to green space across our city. The Mayor believes this is a matter of fairness, and wants all Londoners to live within a 10-minute walk of a green space.   

The Mayor on Wednesday visited the Cookbook Edible Library project – a partnership between Haringey Council, Edible London and Volunteer It Yourself – awarded funding through the first round of the Mayor’s Grow Back Greener Fund in December 2020.

The project has transformed an unused piece of land to create a community kitchen and a garden at St Ann’s Library, which is helping local families and young people learn to grow and cook their own food, as well as giving 14-24 year olds the chance to learn new skills whilst participating in outdoor activities, including construction and gardening.

The Mayor’s Office said approximately one in six Haringey pupils are known to be eligible for and claiming free school meals (16 per cent), but provisions are not available out of school hours. This project aims to be up and running in time for their planned summer holiday food programme for children and young people who often have little or no access to healthy food, it said.

“As Mayor, I want London to lead the way in tacking the climate emergency and for all Londoners to be have access to great green spaces close to where they live,” Mayor Khan said.

He said the new funding announced during London Climate Action Week is “just the start of even more investment in green spaces, nature and projects to help tackle the climate emergency.”

“The community-led projects that benefit from this programme provide so much more than just improved green space for local communities,” he added.

He also said the Cookbook Edible Library project provides an “educational, safe space for young people to develop new skills – providing positive opportunities and alternatives to those who might be vulnerable to getting drawn into gangs.” 

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READ MORE-Sadiq Khan Supports IPL in London

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#LetsDoLondon: Sadiq launches campaign for domestic tourism

The 50-year-old politician from Britain’s main opposition Labour Party has allocated 6 million pounds ($8 million) to directly support the new campaign…reports Asian Lite News.

Mayor of London Sadiq Khan has launched a domestic tourism campaign to kick-start the British capital’s economy as restrictions on international travel will likely continue this year, local media reported.

In his signing-in speech for a second term as Mayor, Khan on Monday announced the new “Let’s Do London” campaign to attract domestic visitors to the city and bring its economy back to life, reports Xinhua news agency.

A pedestrian walks by a pub, The Hope, shuttered in London due to coronavirus regulations. Thousands of British pubs have not survived the pandemic, according to an industry association, and the ones that have will need financial support “for years if they are to recover.” Photo: Yui Mok/PA

The 50-year-old politician from Britain’s main opposition Labour Party has allocated 6 million pounds ($8 million) to directly support the new campaign.

The campaign and events program will bring together London’s world-leading hospitality, culture, night-life and retail venues to promote all that the city has to offer.

“With restrictions on international travel likely to continue this year, Londoners and visitors from the UK have a unique opportunity to experience all the capital has to offer without the queues.

London Mayor Sadiq Khan

“In doing so you’ll be providing vital support for our world-leading venues as they start to re-open and need our help more than ever.

“My mission over the next three years is to put the dark days of the pandemic behind us and to deliver a better and brighter future for London, creating a fairer, greener and more prosperous city, where everyone gets the opportunities they need to fulfil their potential,” he added.

Khan confirmed that a top priority for his second term will be jobs, standing up for the Londoners who lost their jobs during the Covid-19 pandemic and helping to skill up the city’s residents to get back into work.

He also confirmed he will continue to prioritize the long-standing issues that matter most to Londoners, including safer streets, more affordable housing and action to tackle air pollution and the climate emergency.

During the May 6 local elections, more than 5,000 seats were up for grabs in city hall and town hall elections, with the Mayor of London and 12 provincial mayors along with police and crime commissioners also being elected.

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London News Politics UK News

London Mayor to rebuild domestic tourism

Sadiq Khan on Monday launched the new campaign “Let’s Do London” to bolster economic recovery…reports Asian Lite News

Mayor of London Sadiq Khan has launched a domestic tourism campaign to kick-start the British capital’s economy as restrictions on international travel will likely continue this year, local media reported.

In his signing-in speech for a second term as Mayor, Khan on Monday announced the new “Let’s Do London” campaign to attract domestic visitors to the city and bring its economy back to life, reports Xinhua news agency.

The 50-year-old politician from Britain’s main opposition Labour Party has allocated 6 million pounds ($8 million) to directly support the new campaign.

The campaign and events program will bring together London’s world-leading hospitality, culture, night-life and retail venues to promote all that the city has to offer.

London Mayor Sadiq Khan

“With restrictions on international travel likely to continue this year, Londoners and visitors from the UK have a unique opportunity to experience all the capital has to offer without the queues.

ALSO READ: Sadiq Khan re-elected as London Mayor

“In doing so you’ll be providing vital support for our world-leading venues as they start to re-open and need our help more than ever.

“My mission over the next three years is to put the dark days of the pandemic behind us and to deliver a better and brighter future for London, creating a fairer, greener and more prosperous city, where everyone gets the opportunities they need to fulfil their potential,” he added.

Khan confirmed that a top priority for his second term will be jobs, standing up for the Londoners who lost their jobs during the Covid-19 pandemic and helping to skill up the city’s residents to get back into work.

He also confirmed he will continue to prioritize the long-standing issues that matter most to Londoners, including safer streets, more affordable housing and action to tackle air pollution and the climate emergency.

During the May 6 local elections, more than 5,000 seats were up for grabs in city hall and town hall elections, with the Mayor of London and 12 provincial mayors along with police and crime commissioners also being elected.

ALSO READ: Sadiq Khan Supports IPL in London

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-Top News Sports UK News

Sadiq Khan Supports IPL in London

Sadiq Khan has promised, if re-elected on May 6, he will build on five years of innovation to confirm London’s status as the “undisputed sporting capital of the world.”

Sadiq Khan has vowed to work hand-in-hand with cricketing authorities to make the Indian Premier League (IPL) the latest global sports league to stage matches in London.

 The Labour candidate for Mayor has promised to ‘keep banging the drum’ for investment in the capital including through international sport, as he pursues his vision for a better, more prosperous London after the pandemic.

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“During his first term as London Mayor, Sadiq successfully brought Major League Baseball to the capital for the first time and extended London’s relationship with the NFL, helping to secure a ten-year commitment for the league to play regular season matches at the new Tottenham Hotspur stadium,” a press release said.

 Following its establishment in 2008, the IPL has achieved stratospheric global growth and is now commonly considered to be one the largest sports leagues in the world. Bringing matches to London would allow the capital to build on the legacy of the three global competitions in recent years that have seen both major cricket grounds in London (Lord’s and The Kia Oval) sold out months in advance.

London mayor Sadiq Khan and deputy mayor for business, Rajesh Agrawal at Shree Swaminarayan Mandir Kingsbury. (Photo: Mayor of London)

 Sadiq is an avid fan of cricket and had a trial for Surrey County Cricket Club as a teenager. He is also passionate about the power of all sports to bring people together which is why, throughout his first term as Mayor, he consistently invested in grassroots and community-based initiatives under the banner of ‘Sport Unites’.

Also Read – Sadiq Urges Businesses to Tackle Racism

 Building on the success of the 2012 Olympic Games secured by Labour Mayor Ken Livingstone and Sadiq’s wider ‘Sport for All of Us’ strategy, under Sadiq, London has become the sporting capital of the world attracting major events including the ICC Cricket World Cups for both men and women, the 2017 ICC Champions Trophy, the European Championships in men’s and women’s football and global competitions in diving and skateboarding.

 London also hosts the annual Wimbledon Championships, world title boxing matches including the seminal bout between Anthony Joshua and Wladimir Klitschko and is currently home to six Premier League football clubs, four Women’s Super League teams, two Rugby Union premiership clubs and two first-class cricket clubs.

Mayor Sadiq Khan speaks to NHS staff at the new vaccine hub at Shree Swaminarayan Mandir Kingsbury. (Photo: Mayor of London)

Speaking at a visit to watch young cricketers training at Kingstonian CC, Sadiq Khan said: “This is part of my plan to build a better London after the pandemic.

 “I know Londoners are hungry to see more of the likes of Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma and Rishabh Pant and, with two of the world’s greatest cricket grounds in Lord’s and The Kia Oval, London is ideally placed to host IPL matches.

Also Read – Sadiq unveils plan to save West End businesses

 “The absence of live crowds at elite competitions has been hard for many sport-loving Londoners but I know we can build a better, more open and prosperous city after the pandemic and see our capital confirmed as the undisputed sporting capital of the world.

 “I will never stop banging the drum for investment in our city and bringing the Indian Premier League to London would not only guarantee a home crowd for every country but boost tourism and generate much-needed revenue to help get our capital back on its feet.”