Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inbox
Get our free View from Westminster email
London Mayor Sadiq Khan is the Labour Party candidate and is running for his third term after first being elected in 2016.
The Labour incumbent launched his re-election campaign last month and accused the Conservatives of an “abject failure” on housing.
He pledged to build 40,000 new council homes by the end of the decade to unleash the “greatest council housebuilding drive in a generation” if voted back in.
He said the capital would go “much further, much faster” with Labour running both Downing Street and City Hall, without the Tories “holding us back”.
The mayor vowed to deliver a “once-in-a-generation opportunity to make real inroads into solving London’s housing crisis” and “end the scandal of rough sleeping”.
The plan to end rough sleeping would come at a cost of £10 million in new Ending Homelessness Hubs and help some 1,700 rough sleepers off the streets.
He also pledged that London will go “further” than any other UK city in tackling violence against women if he is re-elected as mayor.
The plan will also include a rollout of activity to tackle misogyny in schools, including more funding to organisations that provide outreach and training to children.
The Ultra-Low Emission Zone (Ulez), one of Khan’s flagship policies, has been the centre of controversy in recent years.
First introduced in the capital in 2019 to tackle air pollution, Ulez was expanded to every borough in August 2023 despite vocal backlash. Many of the other mayoral candidates vow to scrap the scheme if elected.
His main manifesto pledges include:
- Free school meals and TfL fares frozen
- Supporting Londoners through the cost-of-living crisis
- Fixing the housing crisis
- 40,000 new council homes, rent control homes and an end to rough sleeping by 2030
- Tough on crime and the causes of crime
- 1,300 police officers and PCSOs and more investment in youth clubs
- A greener future
- Tackling air pollution and the climate crisis
- Standing up for London
- Defending our diversity and uniting our communities
You can read Sadiq Khan’s full manifesto here.
Voters can cast their ballot in person on 2 May, by post or by proxy. Find your nearest polling station here.
Everyone will need to show photo ID at polling stations before they vote.
The results will be announced at City Hall on Saturday 4 May.
Read the full list of candidates here.
Source: independent.co.uk
