Sadiq Khan wants to tackle London's lack of diversity with sport

The London Mayoral candidate pointed to the lack of diversity in sport as a key symptom of the deepening ethnic and social segregation in the capital

Sadiq Khan says he will have a ‘32-borough strategy’ in his mayoral election campaign (Justin Sutcliffe)

Football and cricket administrators need to shake up the organisation of their games at the grassroots level to ensure that young people from different ethnic backgrounds mix with each other, Labour’s candidate to become the London Mayor has said.

Sadiq Khan pointed to the lack of diversity in sport as a key symptom of the deepening ethnic and social segregation in London, creating a “tale of two cities” in which people of different races and incomes were less likely than ever to meet.

He said teenagers from different backgrounds needed to play alongside each other in the same teams, and against each other in mixed leagues and tournaments.

His comments reflect a context of many sports teams in London being dominated by one ethnic group because teams and tournaments tend to be organised on a community basis. Ethnic-organised tournaments are common, particularly in the Asian community where the Tamils, for instance, organise their own cricket league and Sikh temples stage regular tournaments in cricket and football.

Mr Khan, the most senior Muslim Labour politician, said sports administrators, as well as companies and schools, had a duty to lead the way in tackling the city’s divisions. He stressed he did not want to break up existing teams or impose rules but suggested that sporting tournaments, leagues and training schemes could be organised to bring together teenagers from all communities.

“Lots of young people – boys and girls – like football, cricket, other sports,” he said. “We should be saying to the Football Association, to the England and Wales Cricket Board: ‘How can you help us get leagues where children play against each other from different backgrounds, play in the same side?’. We’ve got to integrate young people in the sport they do.”

His comments, in an interview with The Independent, echoed a recent warning from David Cameron over the levels of segregation across the country, when he told the Tory conference there were parts of Britain where people never encountered anyone from another culture.

Mr Khan, the son of a Pakistani bus driver, argued that the gulfs between groups were wider than when he was growing up on a south London council estate and said the issue was particularly acute among young Muslims.

He backed initiatives for business leaders to visit inner-city schools to encourage pupils to raise their aspirations, and for links to be forged between parents from different backgrounds.

Mr Khan also called for action to take some of the heat out of London’s booming property market, which is pricing many people out of the homes being built in their neighbourhoods.

“London is becoming a tale of two cities in a number of ways – it’s a tale of two cities in socioeconomic terms, between those that can and those that can’t, but also in terms of ethnicity,” he said.

“In Tower Hamlets you’ve got multinationals in Canary Wharf. From the estates next door they can see these tall towers, but have no realistic expectation of working there.”

He said: “When it comes to Londoners of Islamic faith it’s a big worry I’ve got. You’ve got people living really happily among themselves but not mixing. There are parts of London where young people don’t meet many other young people of different backgrounds. It’s not their fault, but we’ve got to find ways of integrating.”

About 40 per cent of London’s 8.6 million population is from an ethnic minority background and more than 200 languages are spoken.

But Mr Khan said: “There’s no point having this diversity if they don’t mix … [otherwise] you have all these villages not talking to each other.”

If he defeats Zac Goldsmith in the May mayoral election, he promised to use City Hall as “a pulpit” to target company chief executives to tackle segregation. “I know I could persuade them to get their senior people to do assemblies in inner-city schools, to raise the level of aspiration, so young kids from an estate like Angel Town in Brixton can aspire to work in Canary Wharf.”

Mr Khan suggested creating community allotments and sheltered areas in playgrounds as practical measures to encourage groups to get to know each other, and for churches, mosques and temples to stage interfaith events.

“We’ve got to think about how we provide a catalyst for people to mix,” he said.

Arguing that housing was the “number one issue by a mile” in all 32 London boroughs, he promised to revise planning rules to stop developers selling new homes to foreign buyers and to bring in controls to ensure that rents became “affordable” for ordinary Londoners.

He had encountered Islamophobia during his campaign, but insisted that “London is one of the few places in the Western world where we can overcome that”.


 Sadiq Khan on the ball during the annual 'Labour Party vs Journalists' football match in September (Getty)
 (Getty Images)

He said: “For every one person who may utter something that’s very unkind about my faith, there are dozens and dozens and dozens who say something nice, something upbeat.”

Mr Khan’s bid for the mayoralty will be a key test of Labour’s popularity under its new leader. He nominated Jeremy Corbyn for the leadership, but did not vote for him and has been at pains to stress that he will be his “own man” during the contest.

He suggested that Ken Livingstone, his Labour predecessor, had blundered in the two elections he lost to Boris Johnson by not paying enough attention to the Tory-leaning outer suburbs. “I’m taking nothing for granted – I’m the least complacent person you will find. We’ve got a 32-borough strategy. There will be no no-go areas for me – I hope Donald Trump is reading that.”

He acknowledged that the two previous mayors – Mr Livingstone and Mr Johnson – were “personalities before they stood” but insisted the time had come to move on from celebrity mayors.

“I think London is ready for someone who is going to treat the job of Mayor seriously, roll up their sleeves and be fully committed. Being the Mayor of London is a destination job in itself – you can do so much – it shouldn’t be a stepping stone to being the leader of your party.”