Democracy reporter Noah Vickers explains everything you need to know with 100 days until the London mayoral election. Sadiq Khan on Tuesday warned his supporters that there was “every chance the Tories could win in London” as the countdown to the mayoral election hit 100 days.The Labour Mayor and his Conservative rival Susan Hall traded barbs as Mr Khan claimed that changes to the voting system could make it easier for her to secure victory, despite polls suggesting that he is well on course for a record third term.
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00:00 Today marks 100 days until the London mayoral election on Thursday, May 2nd.
00:05 Here's everything you need to know as the contest heats up.
00:08 The election will see Labour Mayor Sadiq Khan attempt to win an historic third term at City Hall,
00:14 a feat no previous mayor has ever achieved.
00:17 His main opponent, the Conservative candidate Susan Hall, has vowed to stop him
00:21 and would also make history as London's first female mayor.
00:25 I am very serious about winning and I will do whatever it takes to win.
00:30 I will show that our values are Londoners' values and expose Sadiq Khan for who he really is.
00:36 Thirteen candidates have so far been declared as standing,
00:39 though we won't know the final number until nominations close in a couple of months' time.
00:44 The full list of names is expected on Thursday, March 28th.
00:48 Each of those candidates will have paid a £10,000 deposit to be on the ballot paper.
00:53 They only get that money back if they receive at least 5% of the vote.
00:57 At the last mayoral election in 2021, there were a record 20 candidates.
01:03 Over the next few weeks, Sadiq Khan will finalise his budget proposals for the coming year.
01:07 Now, this is a process which happens every year, but ahead of an election,
01:11 it's effectively saying these are the areas I will be allocating money towards if I am re-elected.
01:17 Susan Hall has meanwhile been holding back on making detailed commitments
01:21 as to what she would spend money on until Sadiq Khan has published that final budget.
01:25 So once he's done that at the end of February,
01:28 she will start to set out her stall on a much wider range of policies.
01:33 In 2021, Labour's Sadiq Khan published his manifesto about a month before the election.
01:38 The Tory candidate in that contest, Sean Bailey, published his just two and a half weeks before the vote.
01:45 This election will be London's first mayoral contest to use the first-past-the-post voting system,
01:50 meaning that the winning candidate simply has to receive more votes than any other.
01:55 Mayors were previously elected using the supplementary vote system,
01:58 which meant Londoners were able to give a first and second preference.
02:03 Finally, it's worth remembering that elections to the London Assembly
02:06 will be happening on the same day as the mayoral contest.
02:09 The Assembly has 25 members and exists to hold the mayor to account
02:13 by scrutinising their policies and actions.
02:16 It currently has 11 Labour members, nine Conservatives, three Greens and two Liberal Democrats.
02:22 Labour will be hoping to keep control of at least a third of the seats,
02:26 which effectively gives them the balance of power,
02:28 while smaller parties like Reform UK, previously known as the Brexit Party,
02:33 will be hoping to win representation on the Assembly for the very first time.
02:37 [Music]