London mayor election 2021: who is the candidate Kam Balayev? UK News

On May 6, Londoners will have a record 20 to choose from when they vote for London’s next mayor.

One that voters may not know is Kam Balayev, 39, born in Azerbaijan, a candidate for the Renew Party, a centrist party formed in 2017 following the Brexit referendum.

The former lawyer and Cambridge graduate says his platform in the next election is “the new economy”, whose “main ingredients” are “privacy, data and technology”.

Drawing inspiration from the ‘big bang’ of the 1980s, when financial deregulation strengthened London’s position as a major financial center, Mr Balayev told the Local Democracy Reporting Service today that he wanted to apply the same logic to the technology industry to create a “digital big bang” in the capital.

He said: “Think about it, in the last century three events have shaped London forever. In the 1960s, London became the center of the Eurodollars market. In the 1970s, London became the center of the petrodollar market. In the 1980s, Margaret Thatcher’s government suffered a big blow – financial deregulation. Thanks to these events, London has become the most prosperous financial center in the world.

“If these events happened elsewhere, London would not be as successful. I draw parallels between what’s going on now and what was going on then, but now it’s technology.

Mr Balayev said his “big vision” for London is to become “the capital of the world” and a “magnet” for the world’s leading tech companies as the city seeks to recover from the Covid-19 pandemic.

But he also said he wanted to use the soft powers of the mayor of London to “own” the conversation about how businesses use people’s data and avoid becoming what he called “an Orwellian society.” “.

An image of the Renew Party campaign is projected on a former Westminster police station. Credit: Renew Party document

Besides his plans for a ‘digital big bang’, Mr Balayev said he also intends to ‘tackle the problems of ordinary Londoners’ such as reducing crime and building affordable housing.

On crime, Mr Balayev said he would invest in youth clubs and mentoring programs to prevent young people from getting involved in crime, while emphasizing community policing.

Recently, his campaign has focused on “selling” public goods in London, such as local police stations, which he called “shameful”.

On housing, the Renew candidate said he intended to build 100,000 affordable homes within two years if elected on May 6, working with smaller developers and construction companies. who would be happy to help the mayor’s office achieve these ambitious plans ”.

Mr Balayev went on to say that he would overcome the “diplomatic crisis” between the mayor’s office and the government in order to tackle issues such as the housing crisis, and that he “should work with 10 Downing. Street ”for London.