It is now three weeks since Sadiq Khan was elected as the Mayor of London and he has been a real breath of fresh air. From his first mayoral engagement at a Jewish Holocaust memorial event to his recent comments on his blog about relationships and mental health he has shown real leadership. 

But before I talk about some of his other early key announcements I want to put on record my thanks to everyone in Ealing who campaigned so hard to get both Sadiq Khan elected as Mayor and Dr Onkar Sahota re-elected as our London Assembly Member. It was a very active and hard fought campaign in Ealing that was reflected in the record 47% turnout and everyone who campaigned and voted should be congratulated.

I’m very proud that Ealing made such a significant contribution to Sadiq’s election providing the second largest number of votes in the capital for him with 50% of all votes cast in Ealing being for him. As the third most diverse Borough in the country it is fitting that we overwhelmingly voted for a Mayor who promised to unite all our communities and be a Mayor for all Londoners.

When I met Sadiq with other Borough Labour leaders two weeks ago he emphasised the importance of winning elections and said that he had been able to do more things in the seven days since he had been Mayor than in the last six years he had been in opposition in Parliament.

He’d announced the new Bus Hopper ticket that from September will allow two journeys within an hour for the price of one. He’d also announced a summer consultation on his bold plans to tackle the scandal of London’s poor air quality that is contributing to 10,000 premature deaths a year. He is proposing to enlarge and bring forward the implementation of the ultra low emission zone that will tackle the scourge of diesel nitrogen dioxide emissions that are killing Londoners and contracting our children’s lungs.

In every sense of the phrase Sadiq Khan is a real breath of fresh air.