In 2012, Londoners will have the opportunity to elect a new Mayor, for one of the greatest cities in the world. The current Mayor, Boris Johnson, will be challenged by a number of candidates including the Labour candidate.

London Labour Party members are currently in the process of selecting its candidate. The two contenders for Labour are: Oona King and Ken Livingston. Oona King was the MP for Bethnel Green and Bow and she worked at Downing Street under Gordon Brown as his Equality Adviser. Ken Livingston was the MP for Brent East and London's first elected Mayor.

On 19th August, Chinese for Labour invited the two Labour Mayoral candidates to meet the Chinese community, set out their priorities and plans for Londoners and to listen to the concerns of the Chinese community, living and working in London.

Oona King's highlighted housing, skills and jobs, policing, transport and the environment as her priorities and stressed the need for London to remain internationally competitive and to attract inward investment from economic giants such as China and India.

Ken Livingston was represented by Valerie Shawcross, the Labour Assembly member, and she highlighted Ken's achievements while he was Mayor. This included better public transport, the congestion zone and providing more policing in the streets. She said Ken's plans for London include more affordable housing, safer streets and better public transport.

Both candidates answered a number of questions from the audience. They both cited the need to defend Londoners against the ConDem cuts in public services, to keep the Freedom Pass and protect the most vulnerable including pensioners, people with disabilities, the unemployed and homeless. In addition, they also pledged to support Chinese for Labour's two requests if elected as Mayor: (a) to work with the wider Chinese community to address their needs and (b) to include a Chinese adviser in their policy team.

If you want to vote to choose the Labour candidate to challenge Boris Johnson, you must be a member of the Labour Party to receive your ballot papers. You have until 7th September 2010 to do this and you can join online via the www.chineseforlabour.org.uk or www.labourparty.org.uk

Mee Ling Ng, Vice-chair, Chinese for Labour