Sadiq Khan promises he’ll fight to help women through cost of living crisis

Sadiq Khan has pledged to help women struggling to afford living in London.

The cost of living crisis is particularly affecting women in the capital – with rising rents, bills and transport costs all playing a factor. 

A report by the London Assembly last week revealed women on a median wage need to spend 63% of their earnings to afford private rent, compared to men spending around 49%.

The London mayor was urged to offer reduced rent to women due to the gender pay gap, and was further probed at City Hall’s women’s policy summit today.

He told Metro.co.uk: ‘We have got to reduce the cost of renting in London. 

‘I am the first mayor to introduce a London Living Rent, we have started building record numbers of council homes because they are more affordable and we have got shared ownership and buy in part rent to reduce the cost of home ownership as well.’

Talking specifically about the issues women face, he stressed the importance of increasing wages for women.

The Labour politician said: ‘Women have suffered disproportionally because of the gender pay gap. 

‘We want to freeze rents over the next two years in London, we want to work on a London Commission to bring in rent controls. All those things will help women in particular.’

Mr Khan also addressed the latest rise in bus and tube fares in the capital, which will inevitably affect those already crippled by the cost of living crisis the most.

He said: ‘What the government has done is increase the cost of transport across the country by almost 6% and made us do the same as well.

‘I think public transport has got to be affordable, accessible and safe and when you increase the cost of public transport by 6%, it could bring it out of reach for most people.’

Instead of putting a 6% increase across the board, he has tried to keep the costs lower on more popular services. 

He continued: ‘We have tried to reduce the increase across those services we know lower-paid Londoners use the most. 

‘For example, those who travel into Zone 1, we have only increased this by 10p and those who use public transport out of peak hours, it is still £2.70 for single travel, so we are trying to make it as affordable as possible. 

‘There is also the hopper fare, you can use unlimited bus travel over the course of an hour.’

He noted the introduction of the night tube was brought in ‘particularly to help women who were worried about safety.’

The mayor pushed the blame onto the government for rising costs, adding: ‘We are doing what we can but it is really difficult when the government is imposing these conditions. 

‘They are forcing us to make £600 million worth of cuts over the next couple of years and raise £500 million of money over the next year.

‘It has been tough because of conditions as such imposed by the government because of the pandemic.’

As a result, Mr Khan today called on the government to ensure taxpayer-funded government bodies are taking their responsibilities to women seriously, and are inclusive and supportive at every level.

In a letter to work and pensions secretary Mel Stride, he called for public bodies to be made ‘women friendly’ workplaces.

This includes setting out new policies on domestic abuse, acute period pain and menopause. 

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