The 2024 London mayoral election was held on 2 May 2024 to elect the next
mayor of London
The mayor of London is the chief executive of the Greater London Authority. The role was created in 2000 after the Greater London devolution referendum in 1998, and was the first directly elected mayor in the United Kingdom.
The current ...
. It took place simultaneously with
elections to the London Assembly, some local council by-elections in London and
regular local elections elsewhere in England and Wales. Following the
Elections Act 2022
The Elections Act 2022 (c. 37) is an act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that was introduced to the House of Commons in July 2021, and received royal assent on 28 April 2022. The act made photo identification compulsory for in-person vo ...
, voting in this election took place under the
first-past-the-post
First-past-the-post (FPTP)—also called choose-one, first-preference plurality (FPP), or simply plurality—is a single-winner voting rule. Voters mark one candidate as their favorite, or First-preference votes, first-preference, and the cand ...
system for the first time, replacing the
supplementary vote
The contingent vote is a two-stage electoral system that elects a single representative, in which the winner receives a majority of votes. It uses ranked voting. The voter ranks the candidates in order of preference, and when the votes are f ...
system. The result of the election was announced on 4 May 2024.
Sadiq Khan
Sir Sadiq Aman Khan (, ; born 8 October 1970) is a British politician serving as Mayor of London since 2016. He was previously Member of Parliament (United Kingdom), Member of Parliament (MP) for Tooting (UK Parliament constituency), Tooting ...
of the
Labour Party, who has served as the mayor of London since 2016, was re-elected as mayor and became the first person to be elected to the role for three terms.
The
Conservative Party stood former London Assembly Conservative leader
Susan Hall
Susan Mary Hall (''née'' Cole; born March 1955) is a British politician who has served as a Member of the London Assembly since 2017 and a councillor on Harrow London Borough Council since 2006. She was leader of the London Conservatives in t ...
as its candidate, the
Green Party
A green party is a formally organized political party based on the principles of green politics, such as environmentalism and social justice.
Green party platforms typically embrace Social democracy, social democratic economic policies and fo ...
nominated
Hackney borough councillor
Zoë Garbett
Zoë Garbett is a British politician currently serving as a member of the London Assembly for the Green Party since May 2024.
She was the Green Party candidate for Mayor of London in the 2024 London mayoral election. She was fourth on the Gree ...
, the
Liberal Democrats nominated Rob Blackie, and
Reform UK
Reform UK is a right-wing populist political party in the United Kingdom. Nigel Farage has been Leader of Reform UK and Richard Tice deputy leader since 2024. It has five members of Parliament (MPs) in the House of Commons and one membe ...
nominated
Howard Cox. There were eight other candidates.
Background
The mayor of London has responsibilities covering policing, transport, housing, planning, economic development, arts, culture and the environment. They control a budget of around £18 billion per year. Mayors are typically elected for a period of four years, with no limit to the number of terms served. Under the
Greater London Authority Act 1999
The Greater London Authority Act 1999 (c. 29) is the Act of Parliament that established the Greater London Authority, the London Assembly and the Mayor of London.
Background
Before the creation of the Greater London Authority, there was no si ...
, mayoral elections are held on the first Thursday in May in the fourth calendar year following the previous election, unless varied by an order by the Secretary of State. On 13 March 2020, the government announced the election would be postponed until 2021 due to the
COVID-19 pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...
. The change in election date has been ignored when setting the date of the following election. Consequently, this election was held only three years after the
2021 London mayoral election
The 2021 London mayoral election was held on 6 May 2021 to elect the mayor of London. It was held simultaneously with 2021 London Assembly election, elections for the London Assembly, 2021 United Kingdom local elections, other local elections ...
that saw the
Labour mayor Sadiq Khan re-elected.
In the
2022 London local elections
The 2022 London local elections took place on 5 May 2022, as part of the 2022 United Kingdom local elections. All London borough councillor seats were up for election. Mayoral elections took place in London Borough of Hackney, Hackney, London ...
, Labour gained control of
Barnet,
Wandsworth
Wandsworth Town () is a district of south London, within the London Borough of Wandsworth southwest of Charing Cross. The area is identified in the London Plan as one of 35 major centres in Greater London.
Toponymy
Wandsworth takes its name ...
and
Westminster
Westminster is the main settlement of the City of Westminster in Central London, Central London, England. It extends from the River Thames to Oxford Street and has many famous landmarks, including the Palace of Westminster, Buckingham Palace, ...
councils from the
Conservatives
Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy and ideology that seeks to promote and preserve traditional institutions, customs, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilizati ...
, but lost
Croydon
Croydon is a large town in South London, England, south of Charing Cross. Part of the London Borough of Croydon, a Districts of England, local government district of Greater London; it is one of the largest commercial districts in Greater Lond ...
to
no overall control
In the context of local authorities in the United Kingdom no overall control (NOC; ) is a situation in which no single political group achieves a majority of seats, comparable to a hung parliament. Of the 248 councils who had members up for elec ...
,
Harrow to the Conservatives and
Tower Hamlets
The London Borough of Tower Hamlets is a borough in London, England. Situated on the north bank of the River Thames and immediately east of the City of London, the borough spans much of the traditional East End of London and includes much of ...
to
Aspire, a local political party. Labour saw a small net gain in seats of 28 to 1,156 while the Conservatives lost 104 seats, winning 404 across Greater London. The Liberal Democrats and Greens both made gains, winning 180 and 18 seats respectively.
Khan froze London Underground fares from 2016 to 2020 and introduced a violence reduction unit into the Metropolitan Police. In August 2023, he announced a £135m programme to provide free school meals for all primary school children in London not covered by the UK government.
Ultra Low Emission Zone
Khan introduced an
Ultra Low Emission Zone
The Ultra Low Emission Zone (ULEZ) is an area in London, England, where an European emission standards, emissions standard based charge is applied to non-compliant road vehicles. Plans were announced by London Mayor Boris Johnson in 2015 for ...
(ULEZ) in April 2019. The scheme had been initially planned by
Boris Johnson
Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson (born 19 June 1964) is a British politician and writer who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Conservative Party (UK), Leader of the Conservative Party from 2019 to 2022. He wa ...
when he was mayor. The scheme means that vehicles that fail to meet emissions standards need to pay a £12.50 charge each day they drive within the zone, with money raised from charges invested to improve transport and air quality. The zone was expanded in October 2021 to cover the area between the
North Circular Road
The North Circular Road (officially the A406 and sometimes known as simply the North Circular) is a ring road around Central London. It runs from Chiswick in the west to North Woolwich in the east via suburban north London, connecting var ...
and the
South Circular Road. Khan announced plans to further expand the ULEZ to cover the whole of Greater London in August 2023.
The proposal was voted through by the London Assembly with support from Labour,
Liberal Democrat
Several political parties from around the world have been called the Liberal Democratic Party, Democratic Liberal Party or Liberal Democrats. These parties have usually followed liberalism as ideology, although they can vary widely from very progr ...
and
Green
Green is the color between cyan and yellow on the visible spectrum. It is evoked by light which has a dominant wavelength of roughly 495570 nm. In subtractive color systems, used in painting and color printing, it is created by a com ...
members and opposition from the Conservatives. The expansion was unsuccessfully legally challenged by four London borough councils and
Surrey County Council
Surrey County Council is the county council for the non-metropolitan county of Surrey, England. The council is composed of 81 elected councillors, and in all but one election since 1974 the Conservative Party has held the majority.
The leader ...
. Khan had expressed a desire to replace the ULEZ in the future with a more comprehensive
road pricing
Road pricing are user charge, direct charges levied for the use of roads, including Toll road, road tolls, distance or time-based fees, congestion pricing, congestion charges and charges designed to discourage the use of certain classes of ve ...
scheme. He later said that no such scheme would be introduced during his mayoralty.
In July 2023, Labour failed to win the
Uxbridge and South Ruislip by-election by a narrow margin, which was credited to local opposition to expansion of the ULEZ. Khan later extended financial support available to scrap non-compliant vehicles to all London residents, rather than the previous plan to apply a
means test
A means test is a determination of whether an individual or family is eligible for government benefits, assistance or welfare, based upon whether the individual or family possesses the means to do with less or none of that help. Means testing is ...
, funded from reserves.
Electoral system
Nominations closed on 27 March.
Following the
Elections Act 2022
The Elections Act 2022 (c. 37) is an act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that was introduced to the House of Commons in July 2021, and received royal assent on 28 April 2022. The act made photo identification compulsory for in-person vo ...
, the 2024 election used the
first-past-the-post voting
First-past-the-post (FPTP)—also called choose-one, first-preference plurality (FPP), or simply plurality—is a single-winner voting rule. Voters mark one candidate as their favorite, or first-preference, and the candidate with more first- ...
system. Prior elections had employed the
supplementary vote
The contingent vote is a two-stage electoral system that elects a single representative, in which the winner receives a majority of votes. It uses ranked voting. The voter ranks the candidates in order of preference, and when the votes are f ...
system. The
Greater London Authority
The Greater London Authority (GLA), colloquially known by the Metonymy, metonym City Hall, is the Devolution in the United Kingdom, devolved Regions of England, regional governance body of Greater London, England. It consists of two political ...
considered changing to counting votes by hand instead of electronically to save money.

All
registered electors (including
British
British may refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies.
* British national identity, the characteristics of British people and culture ...
,
Commonwealth
A commonwealth is a traditional English term for a political community founded for the common good. The noun "commonwealth", meaning "public welfare, general good or advantage", dates from the 15th century. Originally a phrase (the common-wealth ...
,
Irish, and certain
European Union
The European Union (EU) is a supranational union, supranational political union, political and economic union of Member state of the European Union, member states that are Geography of the European Union, located primarily in Europe. The u ...
citizens) living in London aged 18 or over were entitled to vote in the mayoral election.
Campaign
The incumbent mayor
Sadiq Khan
Sir Sadiq Aman Khan (, ; born 8 October 1970) is a British politician serving as Mayor of London since 2016. He was previously Member of Parliament (United Kingdom), Member of Parliament (MP) for Tooting (UK Parliament constituency), Tooting ...
announced in January 2022 that he would seek election to a third term as mayor of London. There had been speculation as to whether he would instead seek election to the
House of Commons
The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the Bicameralism, bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of ...
in hope of becoming
leader of the Labour Party.
The
Labour Party officially reselected Khan as its candidate in December 2022 following a vote of party members and affiliated trade unions. Khan pledged to maintain the 2030 target for
Greater London Authority
The Greater London Authority (GLA), colloquially known by the Metonymy, metonym City Hall, is the Devolution in the United Kingdom, devolved Regions of England, regional governance body of Greater London, England. It consists of two political ...
operations to reach
net zero emissions
Global net-zero emissions is reached when greenhouse gas emissions and removals due to human activities are in balance. It is often called simply net zero. ''Emissions'' can refer to all greenhouse gases or only carbon dioxide (). Reaching net ze ...
, including decarbonising all buses and establishing a fund to put solar panels on school roofs as part of a wider climate plan. He said he would establish a new publicly-owned company to take over London buses with support from a potential future Labour government. He matched Hall's promise to extend
Night Tube
The Night Tube and London Overground Night Service, often referred to simply as Night Tube, is a service pattern on the London Underground ("Tube") and London Overground systems which provides through-the-night services on Friday and Saturday ni ...
services to four more lines.
Khan promised to increase police budgets by £88 million raised "mainly from council tax" and sought more central government funding for policing.
He said he would hire 1,300 more police officers and establish a free legal advice service for victims of sexual offences. He promised to have built 40,000 new council houses between 2018 and 2030. Khan pledged to end rough sleeping in London by 2030 by investing £10 million to extend a network of hubs "designed to help an extra 1,700 rough sleepers every year with rapid reassessment and rehousing". He said he would not increase the minimum standards for the ULEZ, or seek further expansion.
He promised not to introduce
road pricing
Road pricing are user charge, direct charges levied for the use of roads, including Toll road, road tolls, distance or time-based fees, congestion pricing, congestion charges and charges designed to discourage the use of certain classes of ve ...
, which a Conservative election leaflet, designed to look like a penalty notice, accused him of doing. Labour reported the leaflets to the
Crown Prosecution Service
The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) is the principal public agency for conducting criminal prosecutions in England and Wales. It is headed by the Director of Public Prosecutions.
The main responsibilities of the CPS are to provide legal adv ...
to assess their legality. Khan asked supporters of the Green Party and the Liberal Democrats to vote for him to avoid the Conservatives winning after making changes to voting ID laws and the electoral system. Khan was endorsed by
Siobhan Benita
Siobhan Benita (' Pook; born 11 October 1971) is a British former civil servant. She was an independent candidate in the 2012 London mayoral election. She was then the Liberal Democrat candidate in the London mayoral election originally planne ...
, who was temporarily the Liberal Democrat mayoral candidate in 2020 before withdrawing.
He was also endorsed by the actor
Mark Hamill
Mark Richard Hamill (; born September 25, 1951) is an American actor. He is best known for starring as Luke Skywalker in the ''Star Wars'' franchise, and the Joker (character), Joker in various animated DC Comics projects, starting with ''Batm ...
.
In July 2023, the
Conservatives
Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy and ideology that seeks to promote and preserve traditional institutions, customs, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilizati ...
selected
Susan Hall
Susan Mary Hall (''née'' Cole; born March 1955) is a British politician who has served as a Member of the London Assembly since 2017 and a councillor on Harrow London Borough Council since 2006. She was leader of the London Conservatives in t ...
, a member of the London Assembly who led the Conservative group there from 2019 to 2023, as their candidate.
Hall is considered to be on the
right wing
Right-wing politics is the range of Ideology#Political ideologies, political ideologies that view certain social orders and Social stratification, hierarchies as inevitable, natural, normal, or desirable, typically supporting this position b ...
of the Conservative Party and had enthusiastically supported
Liz Truss
Mary Elizabeth Truss (born 26 July 1975) is a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Conservative Party (UK), Leader of the Conservative Party from September to October 2022. On her fiftieth da ...
as prime minister and
Donald Trump
Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who is the 47th president of the United States. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, he served as the 45 ...
as president of the United States. In September 2023, Hall was reported to have liked a tweet that praised
Enoch Powell
John Enoch Powell (16 June 19128 February 1998) was a British politician, scholar and writer. He served as Member of Parliament (United Kingdom), Member of Parliament (MP) for Wolverhampton South West for the Conservative Party (UK), Conserv ...
(who gained fame for his
Rivers of Blood speech
The "Rivers of Blood" speech was made by the British politician Enoch Powell on 20 April 1968 to a meeting of the Conservative Political Centre in Birmingham. In it Powell, who was then Shadow Secretary of State for Defence in the Shadow Cabi ...
) and liked tweets that described London's mayor
Sadiq Khan
Sir Sadiq Aman Khan (, ; born 8 October 1970) is a British politician serving as Mayor of London since 2016. He was previously Member of Parliament (United Kingdom), Member of Parliament (MP) for Tooting (UK Parliament constituency), Tooting ...
as "our nipple height mayor of Londonistan" and a "traitor rat".
When asked about the tweets, a spokesman for Hall's campaign said "Susan engages with many people on Twitter without endorsing their views".
She later disavowed Powell.
Several people in the Conservative Party said they should make the election a "referendum" on expansion of the ULEZ. Hall said she would reverse expansion of the ULEZ immediately if elected.
She said she would remove 20 mph speed limits on main roads. Hall listed policing and housing as her other priorities.
She pledged to extend Night Tube services to four more lines.
Hall said she would "ban officers overtly supporting LGBT campaigns by wearing rainbow flag badges, or engaging in anti-racism gestures".
She said she would increase police budgets by £200 million by cutting City Hall staff and Transport for London staff benefits, including pension spending.
She said she would hire 1,500 more police officers and establish two new police bases in every borough.
Hall promised to introduce a women's commissioner, increase
British Transport Police
British Transport Police (BTP; ) is a national special police force that polices the railway network of England, Wales and Scotland, which consists of over 10,000 miles of track and 3,000 stations and depots.
BTP also polices the London Under ...
presence and make it easier to report harassment to
Transport for London
Transport for London (TfL) is a local government body responsible for most of the transport network in London, United Kingdom.
TfL is the successor organization of the London Passenger Transport Board, which was established in 1933, and His ...
staff. She said she would invest in knife detection equipment for police officers and schools.
She supported "more family homes, even if they are high-density, low-rise, as long as they are beautiful homes".
She promised to extend Khan's policy of free school meals for all primary school students for at least one more year.
She said that tourists visiting from abroad should receive a
value-added tax
A value-added tax (VAT or goods and services tax (GST), general consumption tax (GCT)) is a consumption tax that is levied on the value added at each stage of a product's production and distribution. VAT is similar to, and is often compared wi ...
refund on purchases made in London.
Hall was endorsed by an editorial in ''
The Sunday Telegraph
''The Sunday Telegraph'' is a British broadsheet newspaper, first published on 5 February 1961 and published by the Telegraph Media Group, a division of Press Holdings. It is the sister paper of ''The Daily Telegraph
''The Daily Tele ...
''.
In February 2023 the
Green Party
A green party is a formally organized political party based on the principles of green politics, such as environmentalism and social justice.
Green party platforms typically embrace Social democracy, social democratic economic policies and fo ...
selected
Zoë Garbett
Zoë Garbett is a British politician currently serving as a member of the London Assembly for the Green Party since May 2024.
She was the Green Party candidate for Mayor of London in the 2024 London mayoral election. She was fourth on the Gree ...
, a councillor on
Hackney London Borough Council
Hackney London Borough Council, also known as Hackney Council, is the local authority for the London Borough of Hackney, in Greater London, England. It is a London borough council, one of 32 in London. The council has been under Labour majority c ...
who works on health inequalities for the NHS, to be their mayoral candidate.
Garbett also ran in the
2023 Hackney mayoral by-election, where she came second with 24.5% of the vote. She said that if elected mayor of London, she would introduce free bus transport for people under the age of 22 and "free morning travel for older people", de-prioritise policing of
cannabis
''Cannabis'' () is a genus of flowering plants in the family Cannabaceae that is widely accepted as being indigenous to and originating from the continent of Asia. However, the number of species is disputed, with as many as three species be ...
and improve protection for renters.
She proposed a strategy for London to reach zero murders by 2034, in part by hiring youth workers.
She said she supported expansion of the ULEZ to cover all of Greater London, but wanted greater financial support for owners of non-compliant cars.
She said that she wanted to replace the ULEZ and congestion charge with
road pricing
Road pricing are user charge, direct charges levied for the use of roads, including Toll road, road tolls, distance or time-based fees, congestion pricing, congestion charges and charges designed to discourage the use of certain classes of ve ...
based on "distances driven, vehicle emissions, time of day and location", with potential to account for the number of passengers in the future.
Garbett said that she wanted the
Silvertown Tunnel
The Silvertown Tunnel is a road tunnel, opened on 7 April 2025, beneath the River Thames in east London, England. The twin-bore tunnel runs between west Silvertown, east of the River Lea estuary, on the north side of the Thames and a portal adj ...
to be closed to cars.
She advocated a "London living wage" of £15 an hour.
In January 2024 she proposed a two-year rent freeze and a rent commission that would set target rents. She said she would buy more homes from the general market to be let out as council housing.
The Liberal Democrats selected Rob Blackie in August 2023. Blackie said he would provide legal support to
undocumented immigrants
Illegal immigration is the migration of people into a country in violation of that country's immigration laws, or the continuous residence in a country without the legal right to do so. Illegal immigration tends to be financially upward, wi ...
who had lived in London for several years to seek citizenship and maintain Khan's policy of free school meals for at least one more year.
He promised to seek devolution of
work permit
A work permit or work visa is the permission to take a job within a foreign country. The foreign country where someone seeks to obtain a work permit for is also known as the "country of work", as opposed to the "country of origin" where someone ho ...
s in the form of a "London passport" to attract foreign workers.
He said that reducing crime and prosecuting more sexual offenders were priorities for him, and that he would deprioritise the policing of drug possession and significantly reduce the use of
stop and search Stop and search or Stop and frisk is a term used to describe the powers of the police to search a person, place or object without first making an arrest.
Examples in specific jurisdictions include:
* in England and Wales
* in Scotland
* Terry stop ...
powers.
He proposed a new "Sexual Offences Unit" of the Metropolitan Police with a target of returning the proportion of sexual offenders being caught from 9% back to 18%, the level it was in 2016.
He proposed a "voluntary tourist tax" levied on hotel bills to raise more funds for policing. Blackie promised to introduce grants to pay for the installation of solar panels and trialling both allowing all buses to be hailed from any location after 10pm and free cycle hire on Sundays.
He said he wanted ULEZ implementation to be "fairer", giving an example of some night shift workers being charged to both go to and leave work.
Blackie said that Khan's policy of freezing
London Underground
The London Underground (also known simply as the Underground or as the Tube) is a rapid transit system serving Greater London and some parts of the adjacent home counties of Buckinghamshire, Essex and Hertfordshire in England.
The Undergro ...
fares was "phoney", as it did not apply to
travelcard
The Travelcard is an inter-modal travel ticket for unlimited use on the London Underground, London Overground, Elizabeth line, Docklands Light Railway, London Trams, London Buses and National Rail services in the Greater London area. Travelc ...
tickets or caps linked to travelcard prices. He promised to cancel the Underground fare freeze and suspension of peak prices on Fridays in order to increase police budgets by £117 million.
He said that Khan and Hall would be equally bad mayors.
Reform UK
Reform UK is a right-wing populist political party in the United Kingdom. Nigel Farage has been Leader of Reform UK and Richard Tice deputy leader since 2024. It has five members of Parliament (MPs) in the House of Commons and one membe ...
announced the campaigner Howard Cox as their candidate in May 2023. Cox had campaigned against increases in
hydrocarbon oil duty, a tax on
fossil fuels
A fossil fuel is a flammable carbon compound- or hydrocarbon-containing material formed naturally in the Earth's crust from the buried remains of prehistoric organisms (animals, plants or microplanktons), a process that occurs within geologica ...
used by most road motor vehicles.
Reform said that Cox would abolish the ULEZ entirely, end
low traffic neighbourhood
In the United Kingdom, a Low Traffic Neighbourhood (LTN) is an area in which filtered permeability and traffic calming are deployed to reduce motorised through-traffic in residential areas. Many LTNs were introduced in spring 2020, although the s ...
schemes and reduce the use of 20 mph speed limits.
He said he also wanted to "triple" both the number of police officers on the street and the amount of social housing being built.
He said he recognised
climate change
Present-day climate change includes both global warming—the ongoing increase in Global surface temperature, global average temperature—and its wider effects on Earth's climate system. Climate variability and change, Climate change in ...
, but did not believe it was caused by human activity and asserted that it is not a crisis. Cox said he had previously always voted Conservative. The party leader,
Richard Tice
Richard James Sunley Tice (born 13 September 1964) is a British businessman and politician who has been Member of Parliament (MP) for Boston and Skegness and Deputy Leader of Reform UK since 2024, having previously been the chairman of the p ...
, said the Conservatives should stand down and endorse Reform UK.
During the campaign, two televised debates were held:
ITV held the first in mid-April, and the
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...
held the second in late April. Both debates were attended by Khan, Hall, Garbett and Blackie.
The ''
Evening Standard
The ''London Standard'', formerly the ''Evening Standard'' (1904–2024) and originally ''The Standard'' (1827–1904), is a long-established regional newspaper published weekly and distributed free newspaper, free of charge in London, Engl ...
'' newspaper endorsed Khan, but noted that he "must rectify the failings of the first and second
erms... delivering on his promises on crime, housing and the cost of living"
Candidates
Labour Party
The incumbent mayor
Sadiq Khan
Sir Sadiq Aman Khan (, ; born 8 October 1970) is a British politician serving as Mayor of London since 2016. He was previously Member of Parliament (United Kingdom), Member of Parliament (MP) for Tooting (UK Parliament constituency), Tooting ...
announced in January 2022 that he would run for re-election. He became Labour's candidate after party members and affiliates voted to automatically reselect him in December 2022. 96% of local parties and party affilitates voted to re-select him without a contest, with some
constituency Labour Parties
A constituency Labour Party (CLP) is an organisation of members of the British Labour Party who live in a particular parliamentary constituency.
In England and Wales, CLP boundaries coincide with those for UK parliamentary constituencies. In Sc ...
, including
Leyton and Wanstead
Leyton and Wanstead is a constituency in Greater London created in 1997 and represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 2024 by Calvin Bailey of the Labour Party.
History
The seat arose from the enacting of the recommendatio ...
and
Tottenham
Tottenham (, , , ) is a district in north London, England, within the London Borough of Haringey. It is located in the Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county of Greater London. Tottenham is centred north-northeast of Charing Cross, ...
, voting to open selection to more candidates. Khan had worked as a solicitor before being elected the Labour MP for
Tooting
Tooting is a district in South London, forming part of the London Borough of Wandsworth. It is located south south-west of Charing Cross.
History
Tooting has been settled since pre-Anglo-Saxons, Saxon times. The name is of Anglo-Saxon ori ...
in the
2005 general election. He held junior ministerial positions in
Gordon Brown
James Gordon Brown (born 20 February 1951) is a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Labour Party (UK), Leader of the Labour Party from 2007 to 2010. Previously, he was Chancellor of the Ex ...
's government including spending a year as
transport minister. From 2010 to 2015 he served as
shadow justice secretary in
Ed Miliband
Edward Samuel Miliband (born 24 December 1969) is a British politician who has served as Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero since July 2024. He has been Member of Parliament (United Kingdom), Member of Parliament (MP) for D ...
's shadow cabinet. He was first elected
mayor of London
The mayor of London is the chief executive of the Greater London Authority. The role was created in 2000 after the Greater London devolution referendum in 1998, and was the first directly elected mayor in the United Kingdom.
The current ...
in
2016
2016 was designated as:
* International Year of Pulses by the sixty-eighth session of the United Nations General Assembly.
* International Year of Global Understanding (IYGU) by the International Council for Science (ICSU), the Internationa ...
, defeating the Conservative candidate
Zac Goldsmith
Frank Zacharias Robin Goldsmith, Baron Goldsmith of Richmond Park, (born 20 January 1975) is a British politician, life peer and journalist who served as Minister of State for Overseas Territories, Commonwealth, Energy, Climate and Environmen ...
. He was re-elected in the delayed
2021 London mayoral election
The 2021 London mayoral election was held on 6 May 2021 to elect the mayor of London. It was held simultaneously with 2021 London Assembly election, elections for the London Assembly, 2021 United Kingdom local elections, other local elections ...
, that time beating the Conservative candidate
Shaun Bailey.
The
shadow foreign secretary
The shadow secretary of state for foreign, Commonwealth and development affairs, commonly called the shadow foreign secretary, is a position within the Official Opposition Shadow Cabinet (United Kingdom), UK official opposition shadow cabinet th ...
David Lammy
David Lindon Lammy FRSA (born 19 July 1972) is a British politician who has served as Foreign Secretary since July 2024. A member of the Labour Party, he has been Member of Parliament (MP) for Tottenham since 2000. Lammy previously held vario ...
and the former
speaker of the House of Commons Speaker of the House of Commons is a political leadership position found in countries that have a House of Commons, where the membership of the body elects a speaker to lead its proceedings.
Systems that have such a position include:
* Speaker of ...
John Bercow
John Simon Bercow (; born 19 January 1963) is a British former politician who served as Speaker of the House of Commons (United Kingdom), Speaker of the House of Commons from 2009 to 2019, and Member of Parliament (United Kingdom), Member of Pa ...
had been suggested as possible alternative candidates for the party.
Conservative Party
In May 2023, the Conservatives set a timetable to announce a mayoral candidate on 18 July.
Applications opened on 9 May and closed on 24 May, after which a longlist was produced. A committee was due to produce a shortlist of up to three candidates on 4 June, with local members voting to select a candidate from 4 July to 18 July. It was reported that the Conservatives were seeking to find a celebrity or high-profile businessperson to run as their candidate, such as
Karren Brady
Karren Rita Brady, Baroness Brady, (born 4 April 1969) is a British business executive and television personality. She is a former managing director of Birmingham City F.C. and current vice-chairman of West Ham United F.C., and an aide to Ala ...
or
Robert Rinder
Robert Michael Rinder (; born 31 May 1978), sometimes known as Judge Rinder, is a British criminal barrister and television personality. In 2014, while still a practising barrister, he began hosting the reality television#Reality court shows, r ...
, but the party's former mayoral nominee
Steven Norris
Steven John Norris (born 24 May 1945) is a British Conservative Party politician and businessman. Norris served as Member of Parliament for Oxford East from 1983 to 1987. After narrowly losing that marginal seat in 1987 he re-entered the Ho ...
said it was difficult to convince people to "potentially ruin their reputation, for half the city to hate them".
Several Conservative members declared their candidacies, including members of the London Assembly
Andrew Boff
Andrew Boff (born 14 April 1958) is a British politician who has been Chair of the London Assembly since 2023, and previously from 2021 to 2022. A member of the Conservative Party, he has served as a London-wide Assembly Member (AM) since the ...
,
Susan Hall
Susan Mary Hall (''née'' Cole; born March 1955) is a British politician who has served as a Member of the London Assembly since 2017 and a councillor on Harrow London Borough Council since 2006. She was leader of the London Conservatives in t ...
and
Nick Rogers; the
Minister for London
The Minister for London is a United Kingdom Government ministerial post in His Majesty's Government. The officeholder is responsible for policy relating to London including informing Members of Parliament in the House of Commons on the activit ...
Paul Scully
Paul Stuart Scully (born 29 April 1968) is a former British politician who served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Sutton and Cheam from 2015 to 2024. A member of the Conservative Party, he served as Minister for London from February 20 ...
MP; the
Member of the Senedd
A member of the Senedd (MS; plural: ''MSs''; ; , plural: ) is a representative elected to the Senedd (Welsh Parliament; ). There are sixty members, with forty members chosen to represent individual Senedd constituency, Senedd constituencies, a ...
Natasha Asghar
Natasha Asghar (born 20 October 1983) is a Welsh Conservative Party politician who has served as Member of the Senedd for the South Wales East region since 2021, and Shadow Cabinet Secretary for Education since December 2024. Her father Moham ...
; the former councillor
Duwayne Brooks; the former special advisers Samuel Kasumu and
Daniel Korski; and the businesspeople Natalie Campbell and Alex Challoner. Boff had sought the Conservative nomination in five previous mayoral elections, while Brooks sought the Liberal Democrat nomination in 2012 and 2016 and the Conservative nomination in 2021.
Kasumu had worked as an adviser to Boris Johnson, but resigned in 2021, saying he thought that the Conservative Party were trying to "pick a fight on the culture war and to exploit division".
On the question of expansion of the
Ultra Low Emission Zone
The Ultra Low Emission Zone (ULEZ) is an area in London, England, where an European emission standards, emissions standard based charge is applied to non-compliant road vehicles. Plans were announced by London Mayor Boris Johnson in 2015 for ...
to cover all of Greater London, Boff, Campbell, Rogers and Scully all said they would unilaterally reverse it if elected while Kasumu said he would grant referendums to affected boroughs to decide whether to be part of it.
On housing, Kasumu said he wanted to "make boroughs more accountable for house building" while Rogers promised to develop policy aimed at renters.
Scully said he would find new sites for housing, concentrating height in central London.
Challoner said he would build five new neighbourhoods with ten thousand homes each.
On policing and crime, Brooks said he would abolish the
Directorate of Professional Standards
The Metropolitan Police of Greater London, England is organised into five main directorates, each headed by an Assistant Commissioner, and four civilian-staffed support departments previously under the umbrella of Met Headquarters, each headed ...
of the
Metropolitan Police, with investigations of police to be instead conducted by a new body of former police officers and lawyers.
Challoner said he would establish a new police unit for burglary and car-related crimes.
Campbell said she wanted to be more of a
chief executive officer
A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a chief executive or managing director, is the top-ranking corporate officer charged with the management of an organization, usually a company or a nonprofit organization.
CEOs find roles in variou ...
for London than a mayor.
Kasumu was endorsed by
Steve Baker,
Grant Shapps
Sir Grant Shapps (born 14 September 1968) is a British politician who served as Secretary of State for Defence from August 2023 to July 2024. Shapps previously served in various Cabinet of the United Kingdom, cabinet posts, including Chairman of ...
,
Priti Patel
Dame Priti Sushil Patel (born 29 March 1972) is a British politician who has served as Shadow Foreign Secretary since November 2024, having previously served as Home Secretary from 2019 to 2022. A member of the Conservative Party, she was Secr ...
and
Nadine Dorries
Nadine Vanessa Dorries (' Bargery; born 21 May 1957) is a British author and a former politician who served as Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport from 2021 to 2022. She was Member of Parliament (MP) for Mid Bedfordshire ...
. Scully was endorsed by Rogers, who withdrew from the election on 19 May.
On 11 June, it was announced that Hall, Korski and the lawyer Mozammel Hossain had been chosen as the party's shortlist. Scully had been expected to be included, and Hossain's candidacy had not previously been public.
Hall was the only candidate to have held elected office, as a former council leader and member of the London Assembly.
She said she would "get the basics right" by focusing on "policing, transport and housing" instead of "fancy ideas". On transport, she opposed expansion of the
Ultra Low Emission Zone
The Ultra Low Emission Zone (ULEZ) is an area in London, England, where an European emission standards, emissions standard based charge is applied to non-compliant road vehicles. Plans were announced by London Mayor Boris Johnson in 2015 for ...
and said she would remove
Low Traffic Neighbourhood
In the United Kingdom, a Low Traffic Neighbourhood (LTN) is an area in which filtered permeability and traffic calming are deployed to reduce motorised through-traffic in residential areas. Many LTNs were introduced in spring 2020, although the s ...
s wherever she had the authority to.
She opposes
road pricing
Road pricing are user charge, direct charges levied for the use of roads, including Toll road, road tolls, distance or time-based fees, congestion pricing, congestion charges and charges designed to discourage the use of certain classes of ve ...
. She expressed concern that some striking
London Underground
The London Underground (also known simply as the Underground or as the Tube) is a rapid transit system serving Greater London and some parts of the adjacent home counties of Buckinghamshire, Essex and Hertfordshire in England.
The Undergro ...
staff "are earning far more than average" and pledged to review their pay and benefits.
On crime, she said she would introduce a new unit of the Metropolitan police dedicated to burglary, theft, mugging and
fences
A fence is a barrier enclosing or bordering a field, yard, etc., usually made of posts and wire or wood, used to prevent entrance, to confine, or to mark a boundary.
Fence or fences may also refer to:
Entertainment Music
* Fences (band), an Amer ...
. On housing, she advocated high-density "green, community-oriented places" but opposed any construction on the
green belt
A green belt or greenbelt is a policy, and land-use zone designation used in land-use planning to retain areas of largely undeveloped, wilderness, wild, or agricultural landscape, land surrounding or neighboring urban areas. Similar concepts ...
. She voted for the UK to leave the European Union in the
2016 referendum and supported the leadership campaign of
Liz Truss
Mary Elizabeth Truss (born 26 July 1975) is a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Conservative Party (UK), Leader of the Conservative Party from September to October 2022. On her fiftieth da ...
.
Hossain is a criminal barrister. He said he would appeal more than the other candidates to ethnic minority voters. He said he would lobby the government for deregulation to "attract big business".
He supported more use of
stop and search Stop and search or Stop and frisk is a term used to describe the powers of the police to search a person, place or object without first making an arrest.
Examples in specific jurisdictions include:
* in England and Wales
* in Scotland
* Terry stop ...
said he would "crack down" on
drill music
Drill music, also known as drill rap or simply drill, is a subgenre of hip-hop music that originated in Chicago in the early 2010s. It is sonically similar to the trap music subgenre and lyrically similar to the gangsta rap subgenre. Drill lyr ...
.
He voted for the UK to remain in the European Union in the 2016 referendum.
Hossain's campaign manager, Ben Mallett, and another member of his team, Malin Bogue, both appeared in a short video clip taken at a Christmas party on 14 December 2020 at
Conservative Campaign Headquarters
The Conservative Campaign Headquarters (CCHQ), formerly known as Conservative Central Office (CCO), is the headquarters of the British Conservative Party, housing its central staff and committee members, including campaign coordinators and man ...
, made available by the ''Daily Mirror'' in June 2023. His supporter
Nick Candy was also at the event, which was held while London was in Tier 2 COVID-19 restrictions, one of the events collectively known as
Partygate
Partygate was a political scandal in the United Kingdom about gatherings of Government of the United Kingdom, government and Conservative Party (UK), Conservative Party staff during the COVID-19 pandemic in the United Kingdom, COVID-19 pandem ...
. The clip shows people ignoring social distancing, including Bogue dancing with someone.
The invitation for the event, sent out on behalf of Mallet, described it with the words "Jingle and Mingle". Hossain was also supported by
Iain Duncan Smith
Sir George Iain Duncan Smith (born 9 April 1954), often referred to by his initials IDS, is a British politician who was Leader of the Conservative Party (UK), Leader of the Conservative Party and Leader of the Opposition (United Kingdom), Le ...
.
According to ''The Telegraph'', Korski was the candidate preferred by the Conservative Party's leadership.
Instead of ULEZ expansion, Korski said he wanted to plant trees, electrify buses and referred to "large ventilators on billboards that suck the pollution out of the air" in Peru as a better solution. He said he would build more housing over train stations and railway tracks.
He also said he wanted to create a tourist tax to fund a new "minor crimes constabulary" among other police projects.
He voted for the UK to remain in the European Union in the 2016 referendum and supported
Tom Tugendhat
Thomas Georg John Tugendhat (born 27 June 1973) is a British politician who has been the Member of Parliament (UK), Member of Parliament (MP) for Tonbridge (UK Parliament constituency), Tonbridge, previously Tonbridge and Malling (UK Parliamen ...
's Conservative leadership campaign.
Korski was endorsed by
George Freeman and
Michael Gove
Michael Andrew Gove, Baron Gove (; born Graeme Andrew Logan, 26 August 1967) is a British politician and journalist who served in various Cabinet of the United Kingdom, Cabinet positions under David Cameron, Theresa May, Boris Johnson and Rish ...
and claimed endorsements from
Alicia Kearns
Alicia Alexandra Martha Kearns (born 11 November 1987) is a British Conservative Party politician who has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for Rutland and Stamford, previously Rutland and Melton, since 2019 and Shadow Minister for Home Affa ...
,
Andrew Mitchell
Sir Andrew John Bower Mitchell Order of St Michael and St George, KCMG (born 23 March 1956) is a British politician who was Shadow Foreign Secretary from July to November 2024 and served as Foreign Secretary (United Kingdom), Deputy Foreign S ...
,
Joanna Shields and Tugendhat.
During a hustings event, all of the candidates said they would cancel expansion of the ULEZ, with Korski supporting a road pricing system instead. All the candidates said they would invest more in community policing.
In June 2023, the TV producer
Daisy Goodwin
Daisy Georgia Goodwin (born 19 December 1961) is an English screenwriter, TV producer and novelist. She is the creator of the ITV/ PBS show '' Victoria'' which has sold to 146 countries. She has written four novels: ''My Last Duchess'' or ''Th ...
said that Korski had groped her during a meeting in Downing Street a decade earlier. She had described the event some years earlier but without naming Korski. Korski denied the allegation. On 28 June, he withdrew his candidacy.
He said that he had mentioned the existence of the "story" to the party during the selection process. Some argued that the contest should be re-started after Korski pulled out. Broadcaster and former Conservative Party Parliamentary candidate
Iain Dale
Iain Dale (born 15 July 1962) is a British broadcaster, author, political commentator, and a former publisher and book retailer. He has been a blogger since 2002. He was the publisher of the ''Total Politics'' magazine between 2008 and 2012, a ...
, who said he himself was approached on three separate occasions to seek the Conservative mayoral nomination, was critical of the decision not to do so.
Susan Hall was announced as the candidate on 19 July 2023, winning 57% of the vote against Hossain.
Nominated
*
Susan Hall
Susan Mary Hall (''née'' Cole; born March 1955) is a British politician who has served as a Member of the London Assembly since 2017 and a councillor on Harrow London Borough Council since 2006. She was leader of the London Conservatives in t ...
, member of the
London Assembly
The London Assembly is a 25-member elected body, part of the Greater London Authority, that scrutinises the activities of the Mayor of London and has the power, with a two-thirds supermajority, to amend the Mayor's annual budget and to reject t ...
since 2017
Shortlisted
* Mozammel Hossain,
KC, criminal
barrister
A barrister is a type of lawyer in common law jurisdiction (area), jurisdictions. Barristers mostly specialise in courtroom advocacy and litigation. Their tasks include arguing cases in courts and tribunals, drafting legal pleadings, jurisprud ...
*
Daniel Korski, businessman and former special adviser to then-prime minister
David Cameron
David William Donald Cameron, Baron Cameron of Chipping Norton (born 9 October 1966) is a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 2010 to 2016. Until 2015, he led the first coalition government in the UK s ...
''(withdrew due to groping allegations)''
Applied but not shortlisted
*
Natasha Asghar
Natasha Asghar (born 20 October 1983) is a Welsh Conservative Party politician who has served as Member of the Senedd for the South Wales East region since 2021, and Shadow Cabinet Secretary for Education since December 2024. Her father Moham ...
, member of the
Senedd
The Senedd ( ; ), officially known as the Welsh Parliament in English and () in Welsh, is the devolved, unicameral legislature of Wales. A democratically elected body, Its role is to scrutinise the Welsh Government and legislate on devolve ...
(Welsh Parliament)
*
Andrew Boff
Andrew Boff (born 14 April 1958) is a British politician who has been Chair of the London Assembly since 2023, and previously from 2021 to 2022. A member of the Conservative Party, he has served as a London-wide Assembly Member (AM) since the ...
, chair of the
London Assembly
The London Assembly is a 25-member elected body, part of the Greater London Authority, that scrutinises the activities of the Mayor of London and has the power, with a two-thirds supermajority, to amend the Mayor's annual budget and to reject t ...
and candidate for mayor in
2000
2000 was designated as the International Year for the Culture of Peace and the World Mathematics, Mathematical Year.
Popular culture holds the year 2000 as the first year of the 21st century and the 3rd millennium, because of a tende ...
,
2004
2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and Its Abolition (by UNESCO).
Events January
* January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 60 ...
,
2008
2008 was designated as:
*International Year of Languages
*International Year of Planet Earth
*International Year of the Potato
*International Year of Sanitation
The Great Recession, a worldwide recession which began in 2007, continued throu ...
,
2016
2016 was designated as:
* International Year of Pulses by the sixty-eighth session of the United Nations General Assembly.
* International Year of Global Understanding (IYGU) by the International Council for Science (ICSU), the Internationa ...
and
2021
Like the year 2020, 2021 was also heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, due to the emergence of multiple Variants of SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19 variants. The major global rollout of COVID-19 vaccines, which began at the end of 2020, continued ...
*
Duwayne Brooks, former
Lewisham
Lewisham ( ) is an area of southeast London, England, south of Charing Cross. It is the principal area of the London Borough of Lewisham, and was within the Historic counties of England, historic county of Kent until 1889. It is identified in ...
borough councillor
*
Natalie Campbell, businessperson
* Alex Challoner, businessperson
* Samuel Kasumu,
Welwyn Hatfield
Welwyn Hatfield is a local government district with borough status in the county of Hertfordshire, England. Its council is based in Welwyn Garden City. The borough borders Hertsmere, St Albans, North Hertfordshire, East Hertfordshire, Broxbour ...
borough councillor and former special adviser to then-prime minister
Boris Johnson
Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson (born 19 June 1964) is a British politician and writer who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Conservative Party (UK), Leader of the Conservative Party from 2019 to 2022. He wa ...
*
Paul Scully
Paul Stuart Scully (born 29 April 1968) is a former British politician who served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Sutton and Cheam from 2015 to 2024. A member of the Conservative Party, he served as Minister for London from February 20 ...
,
minister for London
The Minister for London is a United Kingdom Government ministerial post in His Majesty's Government. The officeholder is responsible for policy relating to London including informing Members of Parliament in the House of Commons on the activit ...
and MP for
Sutton and Cheam
Withdrew
*
Nick Rogers, member of the
London Assembly
The London Assembly is a 25-member elected body, part of the Greater London Authority, that scrutinises the activities of the Mayor of London and has the power, with a two-thirds supermajority, to amend the Mayor's annual budget and to reject t ...
since 2021 (endorsed Scully)
Green Party
The Green Party nominated
Zoë Garbett
Zoë Garbett is a British politician currently serving as a member of the London Assembly for the Green Party since May 2024.
She was the Green Party candidate for Mayor of London in the 2024 London mayoral election. She was fourth on the Gree ...
as its candidate. Garbett was elected as councillor for Dalston ward on
Hackney London Borough Council
Hackney London Borough Council, also known as Hackney Council, is the local authority for the London Borough of Hackney, in Greater London, England. It is a London borough council, one of 32 in London. The council has been under Labour majority c ...
in 2022, simultaneously coming second in the election for
mayor of Hackney
The mayor of Hackney is a directly elected mayor responsible for the executive function of Hackney London Borough Council in London, England. The post was created following a referendum in the London Borough of Hackney on 2 May 2002. The inaugur ...
with 17.0% of the vote. At the time of her selection she worked for the NHS on health inequalities. She had been endorsed by the party's only MP
Caroline Lucas
Caroline Patricia Lucas (born 9 December 1960) is a British politician who was the leader of the Green Party of England and Wales from 2003 to 2006, 2007 to 2012, and 2016 to 2018. She was Member of Parliament (United Kingdom), Member of Parli ...
and two members of the London Assembly,
Siân Berry
Siân Rebecca Berry (; born 9 July 1974) is a British politician who has served as the member of Parliament for Brighton Pavilion since July 2024, succeeding Caroline Lucas. She was a co-leader of the Green Party of England and Wales alongsid ...
and
Caroline Russell; Berry had served as the party's mayoral candidate on three former occasions.
Two other candidates, the councillor and former MEP
Scott Ainslie and the councillor Benali Hamdache, contested the nomination. Ainslie had campaigned on "retrofitting London's homes, delivering free school meals for all primary school children, and ensuring London's pension funds are divested from fossil fuels" while Hamdache had advocated "a tourist tax and a workplace parking levy in London" and replacing the London Assembly with a new London Parliament.
Nominated
* Zoë Garbett,
Hackney borough councillor and nominee for
mayor of Hackney
The mayor of Hackney is a directly elected mayor responsible for the executive function of Hackney London Borough Council in London, England. The post was created following a referendum in the London Borough of Hackney on 2 May 2002. The inaugur ...
in
2022
The year began with another wave in the COVID-19 pandemic, with SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant, Omicron spreading rapidly and becoming the dominant variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus worldwide. Tracking a decrease in cases and deaths, 2022 saw ...
and
2023
Catastrophic natural disasters in 2023 included the Lists of 21st-century earthquakes, 5th-deadliest earthquake of the 21st century 2023 Turkey–Syria earthquakes, striking Turkey and Syria, leaving up to 62,000 people dead; Cyclone Freddy ...
Applied for nomination
*
Scott Ainslie,
Lambeth
Lambeth () is a district in South London, England, which today also gives its name to the (much larger) London Borough of Lambeth. Lambeth itself was an ancient parish in the county of Surrey. It is situated 1 mile (1.6 km) south of Charin ...
borough councillor and former
MEP for London
* Benali Hamdache,
Islington
Islington ( ) is an inner-city area of north London, England, within the wider London Borough of Islington. It is a mainly residential district of Inner London, extending from Islington's #Islington High Street, High Street to Highbury Fields ...
borough councillor
Declined
*
Siân Berry
Siân Rebecca Berry (; born 9 July 1974) is a British politician who has served as the member of Parliament for Brighton Pavilion since July 2024, succeeding Caroline Lucas. She was a co-leader of the Green Party of England and Wales alongsid ...
, member of the
London Assembly
The London Assembly is a 25-member elected body, part of the Greater London Authority, that scrutinises the activities of the Mayor of London and has the power, with a two-thirds supermajority, to amend the Mayor's annual budget and to reject t ...
since 2016, former leader of the Green Party, and nominee for mayor in
2008
2008 was designated as:
*International Year of Languages
*International Year of Planet Earth
*International Year of the Potato
*International Year of Sanitation
The Great Recession, a worldwide recession which began in 2007, continued throu ...
,
2016
2016 was designated as:
* International Year of Pulses by the sixty-eighth session of the United Nations General Assembly.
* International Year of Global Understanding (IYGU) by the International Council for Science (ICSU), the Internationa ...
, and
2021
Like the year 2020, 2021 was also heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, due to the emergence of multiple Variants of SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19 variants. The major global rollout of COVID-19 vaccines, which began at the end of 2020, continued ...
(endorsed Garbett)
Results
Liberal Democrats

The Liberal Democrats announced their candidate, Rob Blackie on 11 August 2023. He was chosen by a vote of party members from a shortlist of two, Blackie and Chris French. Blackie works in digital marketing and worked on the
Best for Britain
Best for Britain is a civil society campaign formed of researchers, data scientists, strategists, and activists who say that they are working to fix "the problems Britain faces after Brexit". Originally launched on 26 April 2017 to stop Brexit ...
anti-Brexit campaign. He said he would re-prioritise the Met Police towards sexual offences and away from "low-level drug offences". He also promised cleaner rivers, more solar panels and better transport links for
outer London
Outer London is the group of London boroughs that form a ring around Inner London. Together, the inner and outer boroughs form London, the capital city of the United Kingdom. The population at the 2021 Census was 5,395,500, which means over 60% o ...
. French, who works as a community advocate and previously served as a
special constable, had said he would reform policing and reduce health inequalities.
Blackie was being treated for cancer in 2023–4. He had his left kidney removed in February 2023 and announced the successful completion of his cancer treatment in March 2024.
Reform UK
Reform UK
Reform UK is a right-wing populist political party in the United Kingdom. Nigel Farage has been Leader of Reform UK and Richard Tice deputy leader since 2024. It has five members of Parliament (MPs) in the House of Commons and one membe ...
selected
Howard Cox, a campaigner against
hydrocarbon oil duty increases, as its candidate.
Other candidates
Not nominated
Declared but not nominated
Several people declared they would stand or launched campaigns, but were not ultimately nominated.
* Shyam Batra, a finance broker, announced in January 2024 that he would stand as an independent candidate, saying he would abolish the ULEZ, congestion zone, and 20 mph speed limits as well as introducing support "to get everyone on the housing ladder".
LBC
LBC (originally the London Broadcasting Company) is a British phone-in and talk radio station owned and operated by Global and based in its headquarters in London. It was the UK's first licensed commercial radio station, and began to broadc ...
reported that he was prohibited from being a company director and believed aliens were "blending into our communities".
*
Piers Corbyn
Piers Richard Corbyn (born 10 March 1947) is a British weather forecaster, Anti-vaccine activism, anti-vaccine activist, Conspiracy theory, conspiracy theorist, and former politician. Corbyn was born in Wiltshire and raised in Shropshire wherei ...
, a conspiracy theorist who stood for the Let London Live party in 2021, said he would run in the 2024 election.
*
Laurence Fox
Laurence Paul Fox (born 26 May 1978) is an English actor and right-wing political activist. A member of the British entertainment industry's Fox family, he graduated from the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art and debuted in the film '' The Hole'' ...
of the
Reclaim Party
The Reclaim Party is a right-wing populist political party in the United Kingdom. It was launched in 2020 by English political activist and actor Laurence Fox, with all of its funding from a single donor, Jeremy Hosking. It does not solicit d ...
sought to stand, but failed to complete his nomination papers correctly in time.
*
George Galloway
George Galloway (born 16 August 1954) is a British politician, broadcaster, and writer. He has been leader of the Workers Party of Britain since he founded it in 2019, and is a former leader of the Respect Party. Until 2003, he was a member ...
, recently the MP for
Rochdale
Rochdale ( ) is a town in Greater Manchester, England, and the administrative centre of the Metropolitan Borough of Rochdale. In the United Kingdom 2021 Census, 2021 Census, the town had a population of 111,261, compared to 223,773 for the wid ...
and current leader of the
Workers Party of Britain
The Workers Party of Britain (WPB), also called the Workers Party of Great Britain (WPGB) or Workers Party GB, is a Socialism, socialist and Social conservatism, socially conservative political party in the United Kingdom, strongly identified ...
, announced his candidacy in December 2023.
Galloway subsequently was elected to Parliament in the
2024 Rochdale by-election. The Workers Party of Britain did not nominate a candidate for the election.
*
Niko Omilana, a YouTuber who stood as an independent candidate in 2021, was unable to stand as his nomination papers were found to be invalid.
Withdrew
* Serge Crowbolder, a deliveryman, intended to run as an independent. He said he would lobby the government to facilitate a system to reduce rents, establish an
e-democracy
E-democracy (a blend of the terms Electronic publishing, electronic and democracy), also known as digital democracy or Internet democracy, uses information and communication technology (ICT) in politics, political and governance processes. The ...
platform, look to provide solar panels and heat pumps to every home, and commission a feasibility study into the building of a dam between Essex and Kent. He withdrew his candidacy having been unable to raise funds for a deposit.
* Rayhan Haque, a campaigner, said he would increase support for cyclists, explore car-free days like those used in Paris, and create an academy to teach London residents about artificial intelligence to "surpass what San Francisco is doing". Haque left the Labour Party in 2019.
He withdrew his candidacy in March 2024, saying he could not win and did not want "the progressive vote to be splintered".
Potential
The former leader of the Labour Party
Jeremy Corbyn
Jeremy Bernard Corbyn (; born 26 May 1949) is a British politician who has been Member of Parliament (United Kingdom), Member of Parliament (MP) for Islington North (UK Parliament constituency), Islington North since 1983. Now an Independent ...
said he would think about standing for mayor as an independent when asked at the
Edinburgh Festival Fringe
The Edinburgh Festival Fringe (also referred to as the Edinburgh Fringe, the Fringe or the Edinburgh Fringe Festival) is the world's largest performance arts festival, which in 2024 spanned 25 days, sold more than 2.6 million tickets and featur ...
in August 2023. Corbyn is the MP for
Islington North
Islington North is a United Kingdom constituencies, constituency in Greater London established for 1885 United Kingdom general election, the 1885 general election. It has been represented in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, House of C ...
and was a Labour member at the time, but was expelled from the Party after successfully running as an independent in the
2024 United Kingdom general election
The 2024 United Kingdom general election was held on Thursday, 4 July 2024 to elect all 650 members of the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, House of Commons. The opposition Labour Party (UK), Labour Party, led by Keir Starmer, won a lan ...
. Corbyn had been included as a named candidate on some polls; polling in September 2023 by Redfield & Wilson found that Khan led without Corbyn listed, but that Corbyn's inclusion resulted in a Hall lead.
It had been speculated that the former prime minister
Boris Johnson
Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson (born 19 June 1964) is a British politician and writer who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Conservative Party (UK), Leader of the Conservative Party from 2019 to 2022. He wa ...
might stand as an independent candidate. Johnson previously served as mayor of London from 2008 to 2016.
In August 2023, the former
Conservative cabinet minister and
2019 leadership election candidate,
Rory Stewart
Roderick James Nugent Stewart (born 3 January 1973) is a British academic, broadcaster, writer, and former diplomat and politician. He has taught at Harvard University and at Yale University. He currently teaches and co-directs the Brady-Jo ...
, declined to rule out contesting the mayoralty in 2024 upon relocating to Britain, having withdrawn his initial candidacy ahead of the previous election in 2021.
Opinion polls
Declared candidates
Including candidates who did not stand
These polls included former
Labour leader
Jeremy Corbyn
Jeremy Bernard Corbyn (; born 26 May 1949) is a British politician who has been Member of Parliament (United Kingdom), Member of Parliament (MP) for Islington North (UK Parliament constituency), Islington North since 1983. Now an Independent ...
as an independent candidate.
Results
The election was won by Sadiq Khan of the Labour Party, becoming the first Mayor of London to win a third term of office.
Khan increased his share of the vote by 3.8% compared to 2021. Susan Hall of the Conservative Party came second; however, the Conservative share of the vote fell by 2.6% compared to 2021. Rob Blackie of the Liberal Democrats took third place by 70 votes, with the Greens falling to fourth place for the first time since the
2008 London mayoral election
The 2008 London mayoral election for the office of Mayor of London, England, was held on 1 May 2008. Conservative Party (UK), Conservative candidate Boris Johnson defeated incumbent Labour Party (UK), Labour Mayor Ken Livingstone. It was the t ...
.
Before the announcement of the results, rumours circulated on social media that Susan Hall's team believed she had won the election. David C Bannerman, a former Conservative Member of the European Parliament, said on X (then Twitter) that "rumours emerging that Susan Hall has won London Mayoral on low turnout," although he cautioned that his was not yet confirmed. A Conservative Party source told the Independent that the result was "extremely close" and that Hall "may have won", adding there were "some in the team who genuinely believe she has done it."
After Khan's victory, which saw an improvement on his 2021 performance, senior figures in the Conservative Party blamed "overexcited" activists for the rumours. Journalist James Ball wrote in the New European that some of the rumours came about because of "sampling" of votes before the counting began, as votes were counted on Friday evening after being cast on Thursday.
The turnout of 40.5% was the lowest since the
2012 London mayoral election
The 2012 London mayoral election was an election held on Thursday 3 May 2012, to elect the Mayor of London. It was held on the same day as the London Assembly election, and used a supplementary vote system.
Incumbent Tory mayor and future Pr ...
. The number of rejected ballots (11,127) was substantially lower than the
2021 London mayoral election
The 2021 London mayoral election was held on 6 May 2021 to elect the mayor of London. It was held simultaneously with 2021 London Assembly election, elections for the London Assembly, 2021 United Kingdom local elections, other local elections ...
, in which over 114,000 first preference ballots were rejected.
Notes
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:London mayoral election, 2024
2024 elections in the United Kingdom
Mayoral election
2024 English local elections
May 2024 in the United Kingdom
2024
The year saw the list of ongoing armed conflicts, continuation of major armed conflicts, including the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Myanmar civil war (2021–present), Myanmar civil war, the Sudanese civil war (2023–present), Sudane ...
Sadiq Khan