London’s mayoral election is fast approaching and the battle for the capital’s top office is in full force.
The deadline for nominations closed on Wednesday, meaning Londoners can finally know who will be on the ballot come May 2.
Right-wing agitator Laurence Fox intended to stand after bagging 1.9% of the vote and losing his £10,000 deposit last time around.
But he failed to get his name on the slip by submitting his nomination forms too close to the deadline to fix several errors on them.
The former actor and sacked broadcaster blamed ‘pure political corruption’.
So who else is planning to stand (and remembered to cross the T’s and dot the I’s)?
Sadiq Khan – Labour
Incumbent Mayor of London Sadiq Khan is seeking an unprecedented third term in office.
First elected in 2016, he was re-elected in a postponed contest in 2021.
No one else has managed to hold onto the top job in London for more than two terms.
Predecessor and former fellow Labour member Ken Livingstone tried it in 2008, narrowly losing to Boris Johnson.
Livingstone tried and failed to regain the title four years later.
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But Khan, the capital’s first Muslim mayor, having previously been its first Muslim MP, could pull it off.
He’s polling more than 20% above his closest opponent, with half of voters indicating they’d back him, despite controversies over knife crime levels and the expansion of ultra low emission zones (ULEZ).
Khan has promised to unleash the ‘greatest council housebuilding drive in a generation’ if voted back in.
He’s also highlighting his promises of free school meals, Transport for London far freezes, and cleaner air.
Susan Hall – Conservative
Conservative Party HQ has ‘given up’ on London Assembly member Susan Hall’s campaign as she’s dipped below 30% in the polls, according to former Chancellor George Osbourne.
This is despite hinging her campaign on opposition to ULEZ, which has been fiercely opposed by several blue boroughs.
A measure intended to offer cleaner air and safer roads for pedestrians and cyclists, it’s been widely criticised for causing traffic jams that have left buses taking two hours to travel less than three miles.
Hall spent four years as leader of the Tory group on the London Assembly, of which she’s been a member since 2017
The former salon owner is promising to ‘get a grip on crime, build more affordable homes, and scrap the ULEZ expansion on day one’.
Zoë Garbett – Green
The pink-haired leader of Hackney Greens, Zoë Garbett, is coming out to bat for small venues and other people who ‘do not feel heard’ in ‘the best city in the world’.
London’s nightlife is said to be declining as late-night venues struggle to get licensing and the cost of rent is pricing creative and nightlife industry workers out of the capital.
A councillor for Dalston, Garbett is hoping to build on the relative success of Sian Berry who secured 8% for the Green Party in the 2021 mayoral election.
She’s one of the few candidates not looking to scrap or roll back Khan’s ULEZ policy.
Instead, Garbett is promising a ‘better and fairer’ way of charging motorists based on how far and when they travel, and what vehicle they drive.
Rob Blackie – Liberal Democrat
A warrior fighting Vladimir Putin’s propaganda machine in its war in Ukraine, Rob Blackie is turning his attention to problems facing London.
The one-time anti-Brexit campaigner has stood for election before – as a London Assembly candidate in 2012 and 2016 – but he’s never been successful in winning office.
He’s hoping his call for police to prioritise investigating serious sexual offences instead of ‘wasting time’ on low-level drug offences like laughing gas will win over voters.
Black has himself been violently mugged, leaving him with a titanium neck installed by the NHS.
Howard Cox – Reform
FairFuelUK founder Howard Cox believes he’s the man who can deliver better for London, and the former businessman plans do so by scrapping ULEZ.
He claims to have stopped more than £200 billion in planned taxes by campaigning to keep fuel duty frozen since 2010.
The former Tory voter, who is trailing on just 5% in the polls, frames himself as a voice for ‘low-income families, workers, sole traders, and businesses’.
Reform, formerly the Brexit Party, was founded by City stockbroker Nigel Farage and property businessman Richard Tice.
Cox also promised to increase affordable housing and ensure stable 5G and wifi across Greater London.
Count Binface – Independent
Sometimes satire is the best form of protest, particularly when you don’t have to look at their smiling face begging you for a vote.
Alongside a slightly sinister proposal to ‘halve the Tories’ – their seats, or them? – Count Binface is also promising to slash the price of croissants and get the astronomy growing.
The satirical candidate is also offering to ‘stop the bots’, a welcome proposal for anyone tired of spending hours blocking spam accounts on Twitter or Instagram.
An ‘intergalactic space warrior’, Count Binface has stood in four elections.
He won 22,775 votes, or 1% of the total, at the last mayoral election.
Binface has also twice stood in Boris Johnson’s former constituency of Uxbridge and South Ruislip.
He’s never been successful in an election, but maybe this will be his moment.
Other candidates
- Femy Amin – Animal Welfare Party
- Count Binface – Independent
- Natalie Campbell – Independent
- Amy Gallagher, Social Democratic Party
- Tarun Ghulati – Independent
- Andreas Michli – Independent
- Brian Rose – London Real Party
- Nick Scanlon – Britain First
Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk.
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