Sadiq Khan will urge voters not to “let the Tories do to London what they’ve done to our country”, as he hits out at the “hollow, desperate and divisive narrative” put forward by the party. Launching the Fabian Society’s conference on Saturday with a keynote speech, the London mayor will attack the Conservatives for “exploiting people’s fears, but never addressing them”, in an attempt to lead the electorate to think “you’re struggling because of someone else”. The London mayoral elections in May “will be the toughest fight yet”, Khan will tell the audience at the leftwing thinktank’s event, because it will be the first time London uses the first past the post system and the voter ID system will be in force. “The progress London’s already made and ambitions we’re yet to meet are now at stake … because in a little over 100 days Londoners will have their say on who they want as mayor,” he will say on Saturday, adding: “It’s going to be a tough fight and one we must win.” Khan will use the speech to outline his achievements in office including the introduction of universal free school meals for primary pupils, freezing single tube and bus fares until 2025 and “helping every Londoner in every borough – regardless of background – to breathe cleaner air”. “Let me finish by saying that 2024 offers us the greatest prize of all … a Labour mayor working with a Labour prime minister for the benefit of all.” Khan will promise voters a Labour government will give the NHS “new life” after the Conservatives have “forced our NHS on to life support”. “Every primary school in England will have a fully funded breakfast club … the first step toward a childcare system which meets the demands of 21st-century life. And with a ‘new deal for working people’, we’ll agree a fair contract with workers fit for a modern economy,” he will add. “Britain is at its best when Labour is at its best.” Last week, Khan announced plans to extend universal free meals for primary schoolchildren for another academic year. He will promise Londoners continued cost of living support because the crisis “hasn’t disappeared”. The shadow foreign secretary, David Lammy, will also address the conference, during which he will reaffirm Labour’s commitment to reaching a sustainable ceasefire in Gaza. Lammy will announce that a Labour government would start urgent diplomatic talks on the creation of a new International Contact Group to take over from the defunct Quartet – the UN, US, EU and Russia – to coordinate with western and Arab partners over Middle East peace. “The quest for Palestinian statehood is a just cause,” he will say. “It is, as Keir Starmer has said, the inalienable right of the Palestinian people and the clear logic of any call for a two-state solution. That is why a Labour government will work with international partners to recognise the state of Palestine.” Outlining Labour’s vision for foreign policy in 2024 and beyond, Lammy will argue that “progressive realism” will underpin Labour’s plan to reconnect Britain on the world stage in the face of “the new world disorder”.
“Our progressivism will be built on realism. Progressive because our foreign policy will be founded on our values of equality, the rule of law and internationalism. Realist because we will focus on making practical, tangible progress with the world as it is, not as we wish it to be.” On the war in Ukraine, Lammy will warn: “We in Europe risk taking our eye off the ball”, with a direct attack on Vladimir Putin, calling him a “ringleader of a new form of fascism”. Lammy will close noting there is “reason for hope” despite progress being “too slow”, pointing to projections for global heat reduction from 3.5C to 2.4C since the Paris climate agreement in 2016.