London's would-be mayor takes message – to Scotland

Published on Tuesday 8 April 2008 22:41

IN TERMS of failing to hit its target audience, launching a poster campaign in Edinburgh for the London mayoral elections must come close to the top of the list.

But that is what was unveiled at Holyrood yesterday by Matt O'Connor, the founder of the action group Fathers 4 Justice and now a rival to Ken Livingstone and Boris Johnson.

Mr O'Connor, who orchestrated stunts such as the powder-bombing of Tony Blair in the Commons, at least upheld his promise to bring "theatre and drama" to the campaign – even from a distance of 330 miles.

The poster calls on voters in next month's poll to "Save London from Labour's tartan taxes", which it claims amount to a 13.5 billion annual loss to the English capital.

Mr O'Connor, 40, a father of three, is standing for the English Democrats, which campaigns for an English parliament. He is one of ten candidates for mayor. He said Scottish MPs such as Gordon Brown and Alistair Darling were using UK funds, as allocated by the Barnett formula, to favour taxpayers north of the Border.

Referring to the poster, Mr O'Connor said: "I know we have had a strong reaction. I'm not aware that it has been vandalised but I wouldn't have thought it would be too long.

"Some people say it's racist, but it's not. I say that as someone who is half-Celtic himself."

He added: "It's part of a long-term political campaign to get people talking about the democratic deficit in the United Kingdom and the Barnett formula, which I perceive as almost an electoral bribe not to vote SNP by the Labour Party."