What are Sadiq Khan’s policies if he’s re-elected as Mayor of London?

10/04/2024

Sadiq Khan is running for re-election this year (Picture: Getty)Carl Court/Getty Images)

The London Mayoral elections are due to take place on May 2.

Londoners will get their chance to vote for who they would like be the Mayor of London for the next four years.

There are thirteen candidates vying for the top job in City Hall, with Labour’s Sadiq Khan ahead of his Tory challenger Susan Hall in the polls.

Khan is aiming for an unprecedented third term in office, but what will he do if he is re-elected?

What are Sadiq Khan’s policies if he’s re-elected as Mayor of London?

London’s City Hall, a regular destination for the London Mayor (Picture: Getty)

Sadiq Khan launched his campaign for re-election in March and his pledges can be found on Labour’s campaign website.

There are a number of key areas Khan will be working to improve, ranging from transport to housing to job creation.

Here is a summary of some of the key areas of his manifesto.

Cost of living

The cost of living crisis is the main concern of most voters as energy bills and inflation leaves households feeling the pinch.

In order to tackle this, Khan says City Hall would fund a scheme to give every primary school pupil free meals.

The mayor’s office has said the project, first introduced last year, would help more than 270,000 children in the capital and save families about £1,000-per-child over two years.

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The Labour mayor claims his Tory opponent Susan Hall would cancel the policy. Hall has said she would extend the programme “for as long as the cost of living situation requires it”.

A second key plank of Khan’s offer on the cost of living is targeted at commuters: a Transport for London fares freeze, extended to March 2025.

City Hall estimates the policy will save tube and bus passengers around £90-a-year and makes fares 12% cheaper than they would have been uncapped.

Khan confirmed the continued freeze on fares after the government stepped in to plug the £250m hole in TfL left by the Covid pandemic. City Hall Conservatives accused the mayor of trying to buy votes with the plan.

Housing

The housing shortfall in cities is high on the agenda for every mayoral candidate trying to win power in May.

Khan has pledged the “greatest council housebuilding drive in a generation”, with 40,000 new social homes completed by 2030. The pledge includes 6,000 rent-controlled homes for key workers in the capital.

The former MP for Tooting has a strong record on housing, with City Hall boasting a ten-fold increase in building since Labour won power. Housing remains in short supply, however, with private rent prices up and 61,810 families in temporary accommodation last year, up from 59,830 in 2021.

Khan has also pledged to “pursue dodgy landlords” who fail to follow proper regulations, with maximum penalties of two years’ rent returned to tenants.

Transport

Beyond the fares freeze, Khan would point to the new Elizabeth line, the introduction of the Night Tube, investment in green buses and a five-fold increase in protected cycle lanes.

The manifesto commits Khan to “continuing to invest in public transport to ensure it is safe, affordable and reliable, keeping fares as low as possible, working to put TfL on a sound, sustainable financial footing after the pandemic, and supporting a revolution in walking and cycling

He has pledged to extend the Superloop express bus network, including a link between Lewisham and Elephant and Castle as an alternative to the Bakerloo extension. Critics say the ‘Bakerloop’ extension is aimed at masking underinvestment in Tube upgrades.

Crime

As mayor, Khan also acts as the capital’s police and crime commissioner.

According the Crime Survey for England and Wales, individuals are less likely to be a victim of crime in the capital than they are across the country as a whole. But concern the level of violent crime is likely to be a central part of the election fight, with drug dealing, gangs and knife crime blighting some communities.

If re-elected, Khan has promised to boost the Met’s police budget by £88m, mainly using cash from council tax hikes, and seek more central government funding.

‘Erasmus’ scheme

One of the more eye-catching pledges so far has been Khan’s vow to offer young people studying in London a new version of the EU’s student exchange scheme lost after Brexit.

The aim is to give students grants and support to study and work abroad, in the EU and elsewhere, with reciprocal arrangements to be put in place for overseas students.

The mayor is discussing the move with leading philanthropists and funders in a bid to recover some of the mobility opportunities for young people cut off when the UK left the Erasmus scheme.

Environment

Many have protested against the expansion of London’s ULEZ (Credits: andy barnes/w8media)

Khan’s most significant climate change measure, the Ultra-low Emission Zone (ULEZ), has been under attack since Labour lost last year’s Uxbridge by-election, with the levy seen as a key factor.

The £12.50 charge for the most polluting vehicles was widened in late 2021 and Ulez now represents the largest clean air zone in the world.

The mayor has pledged not to extend its scope and has ruled out both a pay-per-mile scheme and any tightening of the rules.

He has promised to keep the capital’s 2030 net zero target and decarbonise more buses.

Jobs

The capital’s economy is still recovering from the Covid pandemic and high levels of inflation, though its unemployment rate is at a historical low of 3.8%.

Khan last week unveiled a growth plan for London, which he said would aim to create at least 150,000 high-quality jobs by 2028.

These new roles would be in established sectors such as finance, retail and hospitality, though Khan highlighted untapped opportunity in health, life sciences and fintech.

He has also begun pressing the government for an improved Brexit deal.