Meet the candidates vying to become Mayor of London

Susan Hall and Sadiq Khan are leading the race while outsiders include Count Binface

Among the millions of people heading to the polls on May 2 will be Londoners deciding who will be the capital’s mayor for the next four years.

Sadiq Khan, the current Mayor of London, has been in office since 2016, having replaced Boris Johnson when he stepped down.

Here, The Telegraph takes a look at all the candidates and what they are promising for the capital.

Sadiq Khan – Labour

Mr Khan has been mayor since 2016 – VICTORIA JONES/PA

The incumbent Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan is currently the favourite to win the race.

Mr Khan is promising to make free school meals permanent for all state primary state school pupils in London.

He has also pledged to freeze TfL fares until at least 2025, to build 40,000 new council houses by the end of the decade and to deliver new “rent control” homes.

Environmental issues are also key to Mr Khan’s campaign, having been the mayor who implemented the Ultra Low Emissions Zone (Ulez) and its expansion.

His green pledges, if he were to win a third term, include a zero-emissions bus fleet by 2030, along with 40,000 electric vehicle charging points in the capital.

He has also vowed to end rough sleeping for good by 2030 “in partnership with a Labour government”.

Susan Hall – Conservatives

Ms Hall wants to axe the Ulez expansion immediately – DAVID ROSE

The London Assembly member, who was leader of the London Conservatives until last May, is running to unseat Mr Khan.

One of her central promises is to scrap the Ulez expansion on “day one” if she is elected.

Her campaign has also focused on crime rates, with a promise to reform the Metropolitan Police and “get a grip” on offending by investing £200 million in the force.

Ms Hall has said she would set up specialist units within the Met to tackle burglaries, robberies and thefts, as well as recruiting a women’s commissioner to City Hall, with a focus on female safety.

Rob Blackie – Liberal Democrat

Mr Blackie is focusing on crime and policing – PETER HOGAN/ALAMY

Mr Blackie has said he wants to double the number of sexual predators caught in the capital by creating a new sexual offences unit.

Hoping to become the first Lib Dem Mayor of London, Mr Blackie’s campaign has a focus on the Metropolitan Police – drawing on his own experience of his neck being broken during a mugging in the capital.

He would also lower the priority of investigating laughing gas and cannabis possession.

Howard Cox – Reform UK

Mr Cox is a former Tory voter standing for Reform UK – CHRIS J RATCLIFFE/GETTY

The founder of the Fair Fuel UK campaign to freeze fuel tax has promised to scrap Ulez if he wins the election.

Mr Cox has described himself as being a “lifelong Conservative voter” who decided he had to run for Richard Tice’s Reform party because “a vote for the Tories is a vote for Labour’s Sadiq Khan”.

Mr Cox also wants to scrap low-traffic neighbourhoods and 20mph zones in the capital, boost the visibility of police and “massively increase” the number of affordable homes.

Zoe Garbett – The Green Party

Ms Garbett is campaigning for rent controls

Councillor and ex-NHS worker Ms Garbett has made placing rent controls on London’s housing market one of her campaign pledges.

She has also proposed bringing in a levy on big stadium venues to raise funds for smaller cultural organisations.

Mr Garbett would also extend free school meals to secondary school pupils and introduce an increased Real Living Wage for Londoners.

The Green candidate has also said she would extend free bus travel to those aged under 22 and offer free bus travel to asylum seekers.

Amy Gallagher – Social Democratic Party

Ms Gallagher wants to cut the mayor’s budget

The NHS nurse and whistleblower has said she would boost stop-and-search powers of the Metropolitan police and tackle knife crime by “freeing the police from political correctness”.

She has pledged a zero-tolerance approach to graffiti and a crackdown on anti-social behaviour, as well as an end to “woke” messaging on public transport in the capital.

Ms Gallagher also wants to cut the mayor’s budget and reduce residents’ council tax, and to create a database for community volunteers so that Londoners can offer their skills up to certain support services.

Nick Scanlon – Britain First

Mr Scanlon is campaigning against immigration

Mr Scanlon’s campaign slogan for London Mayor is “Britain First – No To Immigration”.

He is another candidate promising to abolish Ulez, along with the Congestion Charge. He has pledged to close down migrant hotels and deport illegal immigrants, and said he would “depoliticise” the Metropolitan Police and “protect our monuments”.

Femy Amin – Animal Welfare Party

Ms Amin wants to make cycling easier and safer – GRAHAM HILLING

A former refugee, who arrived in the UK from Afghanistan as a teenager, Ms Amin has said she would ensure the recruitment process for the Metropolitan Police is more reflective of London’s ethnic and gender diversity.

Ms Amin has also pledged to boost cycling and walking infrastructure in the city, which she described as “inadequate”, and to refurbish and reopen Hammersmith Bridge for the use of pedestrians, cyclists and public transport users only.

Natalie Campbell – Independent

Ms Campbell wants to build tens of thousands of affordable homes – MIKE PILKINGTON

The chancellor of the University of Westminster and joint chief executive of a soft drinks company says she wants to make London “like home again”.

Ms Campbell’s pledges include 40,000 affordable homes being built to buy and rent, making public transport “equitable” across all parts of the capital and making London a “world leader in environmental stewardship”.

Brian Rose – London Real Party

Mr Rose wants London to be a cryptocurrency hotspot

The former Wall Street banker has put defending free speech and making London a “centre of excellence” for cryptocurrency industries at the heart of his campaign.

Mr Rose, who was born in the US, has also said that along with abolishing Ulez he would privatise Transport for London.

Count Binface – Independent

Count Binface is very much a fringe candidate – JAMES VEYSEY/SHUTTERSTOCK

The now-familiar figure of British politics – and self-described “intergalactic space warrior” – has among his pledges upgrading Routemaster buses to prevent them “roasting passengers alive during the summer months”.

He has promised to build at least one affordable home, to rename London Bridge after actress and writer Phoebe Waller-Bridge and to give TV presenter Claudia Winkleman’s fringe Grade I listed status.

In addition, Binface has said he would turn all royal palaces – apart from Buckingham Palace – and the homes of Russian oligarchs into shelters for the homeless.

Andreas Michli – Independent

Mr Michli says he was ‘radicalised’ by Covid lockdowns – IAN DAVIDSON/ALAMY

The gym owner has said he was motivated to stand for office after being “radicalised by lockdown”. He says he was fined more than £120,000 during the Covid pandemic, while trying to keep his fitness centre in north London open. The decision was later overturned in court.

In his “make London strong” campaign, Mr Michli has pledged to “significantly raise fitness standards” for police officers and improve legal training – and instruct the Met to stop recording non-criminal hate incidents.

He would abolish Ulez and the Congestion Charge and “begin the process of automating the Tube”.

Tarun Ghulati – Independent

Mr Ghulati says he will end the war in Gaza – FACEBOOK

Mr Ghulati has said he would tackle crime by reopening police stations in the worst-affected areas and hiring more officers.

He would get rid of Ulez, and review all low-traffic neighbourhoods and 20mph speed limit zones. He has also pledged to lift the congestion charge over weekends and holidays.

The investment banker also told the BBC he would “stop this war in Gaza totally today because communities are feeling broken”.

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