The issues London mayoral election voters care about most
Yahoo News UK looks at what issues voters in the capital care most about, according to new figures.
- Oops!Something went wrong.Please try again later.
With the London mayoral vote coming this week as part of local elections in England and Wales, new data has revealed which issues are most important to those in the capital.
Conservative London mayoral candidate Susan Hall has made the capital’s ultra-low emission zone (Ulez) front and centre of her campaign, but figures have shown it's far from a top priority for voters.
City Hall incumbent Sadiq Khan, meanwhile, warned young Londoners that if they fail to vote in the mayoral election they could risk waking up “shocked” as they did to the Brexit referendum result or Donald Trump’s victory in 2016.
Khan said that with his poll lead against Hall narrowing, the Tories could “sneak in” if young people do not cast their ballot.
“I am listening to Londoners,” Hall said as she launched her manifesto on 23 April. However, polling has suggested Ulez isn’t even a priority for the vast majority of voters. Here, Yahoo News UK looks at what issues people care most about.
What issues will decide how Londoners vote?
On 2 April, Survation published polling in which 1,019 Londoners had been asked what the single most important issue to them is when deciding who to vote for in the mayoral election. The survey found only 6% chose Ulez. This was behind the cost of living (41%), crime (12%), health (11%), the capital's economy (9%) and housing (9%).
Hall, however, has doubled down on motoring rhetoric, claiming Khan plans to introduce a “pay-per-mile” scheme for drivers in London – though he has repeatedly ruled this idea out. She has also pledged to end a “war on motorists” by reviewing 20mph speed limits on main roads and low traffic neighbourhoods where they are unpopular.
What other mayoral elections are taking place?
London is hosting one of 10 mayoral elections across England on 2 May.
The Institute for Government has said it will be the biggest set of devolved elections ever to take place on a single day in the country, with the mayors elected covering 44% of the population and controlling a combined £25bn of public spending.
Click below to see the latest London headlines
As well as Khan in London, current Labour mayors Andy Burnham (Greater Manchester) and Steve Rotheram (Liverpool City Region) are running for third terms. Meanwhile, their counterparts Oliver Coppard and Tracy Brabin are hoping for a second term as mayor in South Yorkshire and West Yorkshire respectively.
All five Labour incumbents are favourites to be re-elected.
For the Conservatives, Andy Street is running for a third term as mayor of the West Midlands, as is Ben Houchen for the Tees Valley. These will be the two contests likely to get the most attention. Should Street and/or Houchen be voted out, it will spell more trouble for Rishi Sunak’s premiership.
Meanwhile, a further three areas of England will be choosing a directly-elected mayor for the first time.
Voters in Durham, Gateshead, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, North Tyneside, Northumberland, South Tyneside and Sunderland will be picking a new regional mayor for North East England: an area of the country that should be safe Labour territory, but where the party faces a challenge from independent (ex-Labour) candidate Jamie Driscoll, the current mayor of the North of Tyne area.
In Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire, a key Conservative-Labour battleground, voters will elect the first East Midlands mayor, though the role will cover only these two counties because the rest of the region - Lincolnshire, Leicester, Northamptonshire and Rutland - declined to join the new combined authority. Finally, voters in York and North Yorkshire will choose their first directly-elected regional mayor, in what could be another close contest between the Tories and Labour.
