Bloomberg Audio Studios, Podcasts, radio News. Mayer Kin, thank you so much for joining. It's at the Bloomberg City Lab event in Madrid. What message have you right here to share with your fellow mayoras.
Well, firstly, the Bloomberg City of app is fizzing with the ideas. You've got more than one hundred those from the NGO, those from the private sector. And the theme of my speech here today and the event I took place in was to discuss AI. We've announced that a Bloomberg philanthropiees a new Mayor's AI Forum ten cities across
the globe, five continents. We represent one hundred million people, and we'll be working with the big tech companies, the AI companies, national legislatures, businesses to ensure AI works for us. The way I describe is there are three groups of people. AI evangelists who just think there's amazing, there are no nothing to worry about, all roastings and glasses. AI alarmists
just doom and gloom. AIS bad as a boogeyman, be afraid of it or what I am, which is an AI realist, understand there are huge advantages, huge possibilities, but also recognize there are some disadvantages, there are some perils we've got to navigate our way through. But the great news is cities are going to work together under the ostriches of you know, this Mayor's AI Forum to make sure it works for us.
Turning to the topic of climate change, we've seen a lot of governments kind of backsliding on their climate change promises. Where do you think things stand when it comes to the climate change? Is this something that you feel you absolutely still are committed to combating.
But as good us to this bad views lor President Trump in his second term is very similar to President Trump as he was in his first term. He walked away from the Pirates Agreement, very unilateralist, doesn't accept man made changes happening, almost punishing those of us taking action to address the climate emergency. That's the bad use. The great news is you've got some great mayres in America, great governors in America really stepping up into the breach
across the globe. The c forty group of meys ninety six meres from New York, Los Angeles, Phoenix to Lisbon, London, Freetown, Daka Cape Town working together to turn this crisis of climate change into an opportunity. What I mean, can we use this as a way of creating new green jobs. Who's going to make the solar panels, the wind turbines, who's going to plant the trees, Who's going to install the electric vehicle charging points? Who will make the electric vehicles?
How do we, you know, turn the crisis of air pollution into cleaner making sure that you know people across the globe are breathing cleaner. Are giving an amazing stat which is across the globe more people died because of air prematurely than tobacco. In London, we've reversed it with the world's largest clean air zone with the largest number of electric taxis in Europe, and great cities across the globe, including America. Great states in America are also being bold.
When we think about issues that a lot of cities are facing. Housing is clearly an issue that is across the board for large cities. It's something that you've been trying to tackle. Some of your critics said that you haven't delivered on some of the promises that you've made. How would you rate how you're doing and what do you think I've been some of the biggest obstacles to building more housing. Obviously everyone wants more housing, but what have been some of the obstacles.
With I think in London and other great cities we face the house in Christ's why. Because people want to live in our cities. That is a good thing. There are some cities, by the way, don't want to embarrass them by naming them. For people are leaving the cities that is a bad thing. So the pulse of our city is good. People want to move there. You're going
to plan for that growth. So the great news is, up until the pandemic, we had completed more homes than the nineteen thirties, and we had built more municipal homes than in times the nineteen seventies. The challenge we've had is a perfect storm, the pandemic, the consequence of Brexit. Construction inflation stills gone on by fifty percent, concrete gone up by forty four percent. We've had an awful fire in London where a tour building grenfell. Seventy two people
lost their lives. We've brought new regulations to address that. That's increased the cost of housing. But also we had the previous government had awful economic policies which want interest rates went up. The great news is working with the Labor government, the new government, we're addressing this issue and I'm really confident we will have over the course of the next year and the next few years record numbers
of houses built. In the short term. This government is supporting us to bring in legislation to improve the quality of accommodation, to give us more security of tenure, and I'm really confident in that London will lead the way when it comes to good, genuinely affordable, good quality housing.
You said it would be folly for the Labor Party to get rid of the current Prime minister, But how do you see him surviving when you look at what's playing out just even today in London.
But when you speak as I do on a daily basis to chief executives, to people won't to invest anywhere they can to agent investors. One of the things they're crying out for when it comes to where to invest is certainty, is stability, is calm. We have that in the UK with Prime Minister Kirs Starmer. We have a five year parliament. We're approaching the middle of that parliament and you have hiccups and the rhythm of government is you're not going to say popular the entire five years.
I remember joined President Obama's midterm in his first term, the Shillakin he received in the mid terms, and so it's similar to that when those watching from America. I'm confident though, that Ker's got the right values, the right policies, the right team to take us through this temporary bad weather. He's facing to lead us in the next half of this parliament and we'll start seeing some of the fruit of the seats planted in the first two years.
There will be a test of everyone, including the Labor Labor Party in the local elections next week. How do you think some of these things that are happening within the party are going to play out in the election?
So I've made the seventh elections are almost like a midterm election. So historically when there's been a Labor government in the midterms, the council elections and Labor does less well. I'm hoping that doesn't happen this time because we've got some great labor councils delivering housing, delivering youth services, supporting communities, invested in their parks, invested in their libraries, and start to wait and see, but it's going to be a
tough election Labor. I think that's christ in and that's one of the things I'm hoping my colleagues in Parliament have cool, calm heads and realize we've got five years to deliver in terms of the national government. The peroration the peak is towards the end of that five years, and we don't want panic if we do badly and May the seventh and I'm hoping the polls aren't as accurate as they've been in the past.
How concerned are you about losing seats in particular to the Greens, and how what's the message that Labor can give to voters in the week that we have to go into.
I think the evidence from the last two years of this Labor government, the last ten years of my administration as the mayor is we other people on the side of ordinary Londoners and those across the country to address the cost living crisis. We're bringing in, you know, generational change when it comes to rights for renters, rights for workers. We've supported those with young children in terms of free childcare. I've brought in nutritious free school mills for those at
primary school below the age of eleven. So over the next couple of weeks, my job and the job of Oy, the labor of holdings and activists to remind people in London and across the country the change a labor government, working with a labor mayor and labor councilors have made. I understand why people have been able to protest. Whether it's green or whether it's on the right. Reform process doesn't improve people's life, public service, the right values, the
right policies does. You could have changed that is good and changed that is bad. Finding for one of these other parties it will need to change, I would say bad change.
Did you ever think you would see a party leading nationally in the pause in the UK that is advocating for maths deportations.
Well, that's what the labor government is advocating, that's what the main opposition.
Reforms correct polls currently.
You know, I've just spent time with a Prime Minister, Sanchez of Spain, an example of a progressive national leader educating people in this country about the benefits of lawful migration, the benefits that migrants make, healthy migrants make, and our job has progressive is to explain to people why they're having challenges with lack of decent healthcare, lack of decent housing, lack of business education. It's not because of immigration, it's
because successive governments haven't delivered. I think there are two type of politicians, those that play on people's fears and those that address fares. And I think Reform like President Trump, play on people's fears. What they've done is they've brought into the mainstream views that were on the periphery. What President Trump has done is he's enabled these views on
the periphery to become mainstream views. And the Reform Party in the UK, led by Naja frag are what I call the poor man's version of a President Trump.
And Maga. I read somewhere that you speak regularly with the New York mayor. What do you talk about?
And listen, I think you know Zora's doing a great job as the new mayor of New York. This guy is charismatic, he is young, he is good looking, so of course I hate him.
Mayor, Thank you so much for joining us.
It's a pleasure