London mayor elections 2024: Full list of candidates taking on Sadiq Khan

A total of 13 candidates have thrown their hat into the ring to be the next mayor of London.

It compares with 20 who paid the £10,000 deposit to enter the contest in 2021.

Anyone wanting to stand to be mayor had to submit nomination forms signed by 330 electors, 10 from each London local authority. The mayoral election will be held on May 2 2024 and it will be the seventh time Londoners have gone to the polls to elect a mayor.

This year will be the first time the election uses the first-past-the-post system, replacing the previous 'supplementary vote'.

Only three people have served as mayor of London since the role was created at the turn of the millennium: Ken Livingstone (2000-2008), Boris Johnson (2008-2016) and Sadiq Khan (2016.-)

Here are the candidates listed in alphabetical order.

• Femy Amin, Animal Welfare Party - People, Animals, Environment
• Count Binface, Count Binface for Mayor of London
• Rob Blackie, Liberal Democrat
• Natalie Denise Campbell, Independent
• Howard Cox, ReformUK - London Deserves Better
• Amy Gallagher, Social Democratic Party
• Zoë Garbett, Green Party
• Tarun Ghulati, Independent
• Susan Mary Hall, Conservative Party
• Sadiq Khan, Labour Party
• Andreas Christoffi Michli, Independent
• Brian Benedict Rose, London Real Party - Transform London
• Nick Scanlon, Britain First - No To Immigration

Since March 19, the candidates from the four main parties have kicked off their election campaigns.

Labour Party

Sadiq Khan has described the upcoming mayoral election as a “two-horse race” as he calls on rival parties to lend him their votes.

The Labour candidate is fighting for his third term as mayor of London, and says the voter ID laws and the voting system will make this election the “closest capital contest yet”.

According to the latest poll, Mr Khan is on track to receive 51% of the vote, with the Conservatives' Susan Hall trailing on 27%. The poll, conducted by Savanta, had the Lib Dems’ Rob Blackie at 10%, followed by the Green Party’s Zoë Garbett at 8% and Reform UK’s Howard Cox at 2%.

Despite his lead in the polls, Mr Khan is calling on Green and Lib Dem voters to lend him their vote to prevent a Conservative win

Mr Khan re-launched his mayoral campaign with Sir Keir Starmer pledging to double his council homes target to 40,000 and trumpeting the prospect of a Labour government and mayor offering a ‘once in a generation” chance to ease London’s housing crisis.

Conservative Party

Conservative mayoral candidate Susan Hall launched her mayoral campaign with a promise to “listen to Londoners” and to scrap the expansion of the ultra low emission zone (ULEZ).

Ms Hall’s priorities include scrapping the expansion of the ULEZ scheme on her first day and building more affordable family homes by reopening the London Plan. She will also bring back the London Land Commission, to identify public sector brownfield land that can be used for housing.

The 69-year-old Assembly member has also pledged to encourage Low Traffic Neighbourhoods (LTNs) to be removed, and to “remove unnecessary 20mph zones on main Transport for London (TfL)-controlled roads”. On crime, Ms Hall pledged to “make our streets safe” by recruiting more police officers, returning to borough-based policing, introducing knife detection wands to improve stop-and-search, and by setting up specialist units to tackle robberies and theft.

Green Party

The Green Party’s mayoral candidate launched her campaign promising cheaper travel and a better deal for renters in London.

Zoë Garbett has pledged to hold a consultation on road pricing to create a “better and fairer” deal for charging motorists in the capital.

She vowed to extend free peak travel to older people and free school meals to secondary school pupils.

“As a councillor in Hackney, I know how unaffordable this city has become. As a renter, I know how insecure it can feel," she said.

“Low-paid work forces people to skip meals, and schools are closing because families can’t afford to live here. We have to do better – and we can.”

Liberal Democrats

Liberal Democrat mayoral candidate Rob Blackie has pledged to “fix the Met Police” and introduce more solar panels on roofs in the capital if elected.

The 51-year-old digital marketer, who advises start-up tech companies, has had a varied career, from working on an elephant conservation project in Namibia to serving as director of research for the former Lib Dem leader Charles Kennedy during the Iraq war.

He has twice stood for the London Assembly and has previously been shortlisted as a mayoral candidate, though not chosen.

Mr Blackie, who has lived in the Brixton area for the last 20 years, says he was inspired to run for the top job at City Hall after reading the Casey report into the culture of the Met Police.

Mr Blackie says if elected he will deliver 500 more frontline police officers and fix the police's use of technology.

He said under the current mayor Sadiq Khan the Met Police spends too much time on stop and searching people, looking for cannabis, and not enough time dealing with rape cases and sexual offences

Reform Party

The candidate for Reform UK - formerly the Brexit Party is Howard Cox.

Mr Cox is the founder of the Fair Fuel UK campaign, lobbying to freeze fuel tax and keep petrol prices down.

His campaigning priorities include scrapping ULEZ completely, cutting crime and building more houses. He says he wants to “get the city moving” by scrapping low traffic neighbourhoods and 20mph zones.

Mr Cox has voiced scepticism about climate change, tweeting last year that "there is no climate crisis" and saying he was "convinced man is not responsible for global warming".

Social Democratic Party

NHS nurse and psychotherapist Amy Gallagher has been selected as the candidate for the Social Democratic Party (SDP).

Ms Gallagher, from south London, said she was standing in the election as she wanted to "push back on woke ideology".

“Working as a nurse in hospitals and in the community, I’ve seen how the city has changed. Poor living conditions, lack of community, division, increases in crime, unreliable public transport: many people feel like politicians have let them down and they never get the change they were promised,” she said.

Some of her priorities include "depoliticising the police" and "improving public transport infrastructure and making all transport free for under-25s".

She added that she was "firmly against" the Ultra Low Emission Zone and Low Traffic Neighbourhoods and would scrap both.

Independent

A former Tory mayoral hopeful launched her campaign to run as an independent candidate with the hopes of mobilising non-voters.

Natalie Campbell, a CEO and university chancellor, was longlisted as a Conservative candidate for next year’s mayoral election.

After failing to make the short list, the 40-year-old from Willesden, is now running as an Independent candidate for the top job at City Hall. Campbell, who pledges to take a “CEO’s approach” to running London, is surveying 100,000 Londoners on the changes they want to see in the capital as part of her campaign.

She says she plans to use her What London Wants survey results to build her manifesto and to mobilise the 58% of Londoners who did not vote in the last mayoral election.

Andreas Michli, a gym owner and fitness entrepreneur Andreas said he would run as an independent candidate after he was "radicalised by lockdown.

The 37-year-old was fined for attempting to keep his Wood Green gym open during lockdown, but the charges were later overturned in court.

Michli said if he is elected mayor he will abolish the Ultra Low Emission Zone (ULEZ), net-zero targets and low-traffic neighbourhoods (LTNs).

Other policies put forward by Michli include police officers being required to have “significantly higher physical standards for entry, closer to military standards”.

He wants to increase police officers' salaries and to ban all political messaging from the Met Police.

Tarun Ghulati, an Indian-born investment banker, declared his candidature in November 2023, saying he would eliminate the ULEZ, remove the congestion charge for weekends and holidays, and abolish 20 mph speed limit zones and Low Traffic Neighbourhoods. 

He also said he would focus on affordable housing and  promised to re-open police stations in areas with a lot of crime.

Sign up for our newsletter for the latest updates, and follow LondonWorld on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and TikTok. Email us at [email protected]