LONDON: Pro-business London mayor SadiqKhan one of the opposition Labour Party´s most powerful figures,heaped pressure on his socialist leader Jeremy Corbyn to deliveran election win, using a speech on Tuesday to stress theimportance of being in office.
Khan became Labour´s most senior elected official in May,beating a candidate from the ruling Conservatives to win a hugemandate over London´s 17 billion pound budget which covers areaslike business policy, housing, policing and transport.
His remarks are a direct challenge to Corbyn, who wasre-elected as leader of the party last week after surviving anattempted coup triggered by lawmakers who said his leadershiphad been weak and focused on ideology rather than winning power.
"Labour out of power will never ever be good enough," Khantold Labour´s annual conference in the northern city ofLiverpool.His speech used the words "in power" around 30 times.
"It´s only with Labour in power can we create a fairer, moreequal and more just Britain," he added."And when Labour´s notin power, we fail the very people who need us most.
"Britain is not due to hold a national election until 2020,but some in Labour say the June vote to leave the European Unionwill force one sooner.The government says it has no need to doso.
Corbyn sat on stage throughout Khan´s remarks but did notjoin the audience of party activists and officials in applaudingduring his speech, only clapping at its conclusion.
Opinion polling released last week showed only 16 percent ofvoters though Labour was likely to win the next election underCorbyn compared to 65 percent who thought the Conservativeslikely to win under Prime Minister Theresa May.
Khan won control of London promising to be the city´s mostpro-business mayor ever.Although he nominated Corbyn as leaderin 2015, he has since backed away from the veteran lawmaker´sleft-wing policy agenda, and voted for Corbyn´s rival in theSummer leadership challenge.
His speech comes a day after Labour Party finance chief JohnMcDonnell set out a raft of radical business policies to beenacted if Labour wins power at the next election, much of whichdrew sharp criticism from business groups.