DOES THE DEPUTY MAYOR KNOW ANYTHING?

Sir Sadiq Khan’s Deputy Mayor for Culture, Justine Simons, paid a visit to us at the London Assembly this week to answer our questions. Her role is to champion the culture sector in London and support businesses to thrive in our capital - but as venues and hospitality businesses are on their knees under this awful Labour Government, she didn’t seem to be able to answer any of our questions…

WHAT IS THE POINT OF YOU?

Well, if anyone was going to be straightforward, it would be Alessandro Georgiou AM. He laid the charges: business in London is struggling, and cultural venues are dying under Labour. When the Deputy Mayor gets paid £150,000 a year, and thousands of pounds in freebies, what is the point of her if this happens?

NO SUCH THING AS A FREE LUNCH

Not that the Deputy Mayor enjoyed us pointing out how many freebies she got, either. Susan Hall AM thought she’d take a look at the list of gifts that the Deputy Mayor has declared, including Taylor Swift tickets - did the Deputy Mayor really need to accept these? Well, apparently we’ve got Justine Simons to thank for Taylor Swift’s success…

CULTURE APPOINTEE MISSES CULTURAL REFERENCE

We’ve all seen the meme of the dog sat at a table surrounded by fire insisting “this is fine”. Or at least, we thought we’d all seen it. Turns out the Deputy Mayor for Culture is not so familiar with this cultural reference - and when Emma Best AM used it whilst pointing out how our hospitality venues are on their knees, the Deputy Mayor thought it was something altogether very different…

SCRAP THE JOBS TAX, SAVE OUR BUSINESSES

It’s tough running a business in London - rising energy costs, rents, and goods costs are all eating into operating costs, and then the Labour Government goes and whacks a whopping great increase on National Insurance Contributions, making it more expensive to hire staff. But why hasn’t Sir Sadiq or his Deputy Mayor spoken out against this awful tax? Apparently, the Deputy Mayor said to Neil Garratt AM, they don’t seem to have the power to do so…