David Lammy: ‘Scrap fee to vote for mayoral candidate’

MP David Lammy today demanded his party scrap the fee charged to ordinary Londoners wanting to select Labour’s candidate for Mayor.

If Labour failed to include “thousands” of people in the vote it would waste a “once in a generation” chance and risk failure, he said.

His warning came as Labour candidate Tessa Jowell warned that popular Tory MP Zac Goldsmith, who has entered the race for City Hall, was a “clever” and “charming” foe.

Mr Lammy’s call follows figures suggesting that the number of Londoners who have paid a £3 fee and signed up as a “registered supporter” to vote in the Labour mayoral primary was disappointingly low.

He said: “The Labour Party leadership now needs to decide if it is really serious about getting Londoners involved in this election and serious about winning in London next year and beyond.

“This is a test for our party of how much we understand why we lost — not just at the general election but in the last two mayoral elections too — and whether we’re really willing to do what it takes to win back the trust of the voters we’ve lost in London.

“If we are, then we need to make it completely free of charge to take part...I want us to get thousands of Londoners involved.”

Under reforms introduced by Ed Miliband every Labour member gets a single vote in the leadership and mayoral candidate contests. Unions can affiliate their members to vote and members of the public can also become a registered supporter and take part.

Figures seen by the Standard earlier this week suggested the number of members affiliated by unions stood at over 1,000 while registered supporters were lower. Labour refused to confirm exact figures but said the the gap between the two groups had now greatly narrowed.

Speaking about Mr Goldsmith on LBC radio last night, Dame Tessa said he was “very engaging” and she would “love” to campaign against him.