This article originally appeared on Shaun Bailey's website. Shaun is a London wide GLA Member and the 2021 Conservative Mayoral candidate.
London Assembly member Shaun Bailey, from Harold Hill was elected as the Conservative Party’s candidate to face the mayor of London Sadiq Khan in the city’s 2020 mayoral election.
Shaun, who was a special adviser on youth and crime to former Tory prime minister David Cameron, said that crime one of the issues he hopes to tackle as mayor.
He told the Recorder: “I’ve done a lot of work moving young people away from crime.
“I think there’s two points - the first is about pursuing criminals. We need to be chasing them down and getting them arrested.
“A lot of people turn to crime through desperation, but there’s also the other side to it, which is about giving young people more opportunities.”
Shaun recently spent time at OnSide’s Barking and Dagenham Youth Zone, a new purpose built facility for young people.
He’s been in discussions with Havering Council to see if a similar project might come to the borough.
“I’ve worked as a youth worker for 20 years and I technically still do it now,” said Shaun.
“We used to talk to older people in the community to say it’s also their responsibility to be a role model for younger people in their community.”
Speaking about the difficulty of funding youth projects and community centres, Shaun added: “It’s all about choices. [The mayor of London, Sadiq Khan] needs to stop spending so much money on his own office. Where you spend your money shows you where your priorities are.”
The 47-year-old grew up in the Ladbroke Grove area of West London.