Sadiq Khan has been slammed for spending £2million of taxpayers money on “woke nonsense” statues to diversify the capital.
The London Commission for Diversity in the Public Realm was set up by the mayor in the wake of the Black Lives Matter protests in 2020, which saw a statue of slave owner Edward Colston torn down in Bristol.
The body was created to “enrich the public realm” by including more statues, memorials and murals to “increase the presence and visibility of underrepresented groups” in the capital.
The website for the commission stated: “London is one of the most diverse cities in the world, with more than 300 languages spoken every day. Yet its statues, plaques and street names don’t reflect our city’s stories.”
Khan has been slammed for spending £2million of taxpayers money on ‘woke nonsense’ statues
Greater London Authority
Projects range from QR codes and information boards to anti-slavery campaigners, to rainbow-coloured plaques situated in areas of LGBTQ+ significance.
A Freedom of Information Request (FOI) requested by The Spectator has revealed that the project has cost a whopping £2,138,888.
A staggering £1,156,417 has been spent on its grant-giving programme which funds community projects.
Reacting to the figure, Elliot Keck, head of campaigns at the TaxPayers’ Alliance, told The Daily Mail: “Londoners have had enough of the Mayor racking up the taxpayer-funded credit card with endless amounts of woke waste.
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The London Commission for Diversity in the Public Realm was set up by the mayor in 2020
PA
“Sadiq Khan claims to stand up for the capital yet its clear as day that he’s more interested in an ideological crusade that sweeps away the city’s extraordinary historical legacy.
“Instead of studying statues the Mayor should focus on tackling the knife crime crisis destroying lives across London.”
City Hall Conservative Susan Hall also said that Khan is splashing taxpayers’ cash on “woke nonsense” whilst neglecting the police.
She argued that the mayor is “absolutely splashing our cash everywhere but on the police service. This woke nonsense with our money has got to stop”.
“London is desperate for more policing. With the budget as it is at the moment we are going to lose police officers. We can’t afford to lose them.”
Susan Hall said that Khan is splashing taxpayers’ cash on ‘woke nonsense’ whilst neglecting the police
PA
Earlier this month, Khan was placed under investigation for accepting free tickets to a Taylor Swift concert last summer.
City Hall’s standards watchdog confirmed it would be examining whether Labour’s Mayor of London “exercised an appropriate level of caution in deciding to accept the tickets” to the show last August.
Khan, who was handed a knighthood for “public service” in the New Year Honours, initially said he had received six tickets worth £194 each from the Football Association, the BBC reported.
But officials later back-tracked, saying the tickets were actually worth around £500 each – and had been paid for by a company called LS Events, thought to have worked with City Hall in the past.
Khan’s office has said “an administrative error which was corrected” was behind the U-turn.
