Leading London mayor candidates signal support for permanent Covid memorial

Leading mayoral candidates today signalled their support for a permanent Covid memorial monument in London.

Incumbent Sadiq Khan said he completely understood the desire for a lasting memorial while Tory candidate Shaun Bailey said a public monument would give people “a space to reflect”.

Their support comes after the Prime Minister promised a “fitting and permanent memorial” to Covid victims “at the right moment”.

Mr Khan, who has already founded a blossom garden in the Olympic Park to mark the anniversary of the first lockdown, said: “If I’m re-elected on 6 May I’ll listen carefully to all potential proposals from local communities and councils for further fitting tributes in our city.”

Mr Bailey, who supports a memorial in central London, added: “It is our duty to remember those who tragically lost their lives — and those who fought to protect many more.”

Meanwhile, Lib Dem mayor candidate Luisa Porrit, Green Sian Berry and the Women’s Equality Party’s Mandu Reid have all thrown their weight behind the Covid Memorial Day campaign.

It is being coordinated by March for Change and is calling for a national Covid Memorial Day every 23 March and a monument on Whitehall where wreaths can be laid.

It has also had backing from TV historian Dan Snow who, in an interview with the Standard, has called for a Covid memorial similar to the Cenotaph.

The campaign has started public consultation to ensure that the British public is at the centre of the memorialisation of the pandemic.

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