Activists from the Burning Pink political party hung banners on statues in Parliament Square this morning showing support for their candidate Valerie Brown, who is standing on a single manifesto policy of handing over the major decisions about London to Citizens’ Assemblies, made up of cross-sections of Londoners themselves.

The party has been frustrated by the media bias towards just two parties during the London Mayoral election as well as severe restrictions on campaigning. Incumbent mayor Sadiq Khan claimed the election was a “two-horse race” in his electoral launch, which even angered mainstream candidates such as Luisa Porritt (LibDem) and Sian Berry (Green Party) let alone Burning Pink who are offering up a systemic new approach to democracy for Londoners.

While the major parties had media airtime during the Tier 4 lockdown, smaller parties were constrained by a Covid ban on canvassing, but Valerie Brown has been out each day in different parts of London, speaking directly to potential voters and explaining the system of sortition and Citizens’ Assemblies. The response has been really positive – with many ordinary people disillusioned by the current levels of corruption and lack of real representation, many are looking for something different.

Yesterday party members issued an ultimatum to Sadiq Khan, asking him to actually commit to his ‘declaration of climate emergency’ and come forward with a real plan to tell Londoners the truth about the emergency and instigate plans for a rapid move to carbon net zero as well as setting up Citizens’ Assemblies to give control to representative Londoners.

The party have challenged Khan to come to an open public meeting to debate all this before 26th April, or they will begin a programme of non-violent civil resistance.

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Johan Rockstrom (et al)
“We are in a climate emergency… this is an existential threat to civilization.”
https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-019-03595-0

Sir David King
“What we do over the next three to four years, I believe, is going to determine the future of humanity. We are in a very very desperate situation.”
https://twitter.com/ChristopherWr11/status/1360118536606109701

Sir David Attenborough
“Climate change could, within a lifetime, destroy “entire cities and societies”, Sir David Attenborough has told the UN Security Council.
https://www.bbc.com/news/av/science-environment-56175714