Sadiq Khan pledges to double council home building

London Mayor Sadiq Khan has pledged to double council home building if re-elected as he launched his mayoral campaign.

"Should I be re-elected on May 2nd, we will build and complete 40, 000 council homes by 2030. A new golden era of council house building has begun, but this will be transformative going forward."

In a speech alongside Sir Keir Starmer, he said London would go "much further, much faster" with Labour running both Downing Street and City Hall as he promised to unleash what he described as the greatest council housebuilding drive in a generation.

"My definition of an affordable home is a council home, one where you pay a London living rent, that's a third of average earnings, so the London living rate in Camden is different to the living rent in Kingston or it's shared ownership, part buy part rent home."

Describing the mayoral election on May 2 as a "two-horse race" and the "closest contest ever" between himself and the Conservatives' Susan Hall, he said the vote would "determine whether London's brightest days are ahead of us or behind us".

Ms Hall responded by saying

"Today's announcement is mostly just existing homes and builds that he's already started. His plan will do next to nothing to help people with soaring rents, I will re-open the London plan and build more affordable family homes focusing on high density and low rise. We can significantly increase supply and reduce the pressures on rent."

Other candidates running for London Mayor:

Conservative Party - Susan Hall

Green Party - Zoë Garbett

Liberal Democrats - Rob Blackie

Reform UK - Howard Cox

Social Democratic Party - Amy Gallagher

Independent - Shyam Batra

Independent - Taran Ghulati

Independent - Natalie Campbell

Independent - Andreas Michli

Independent - Brian Rose

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