London’s mayoral race was dramatically stirred up by a new poll showing the smallest lead for Sadiq Khan ahead of Susan Hall since their campaigns got under way.With just a week to go to polling day, the Savanta survey for the Mile End Institute at Queen Mary University of London put the Labour mayor on 46 per cent, with his Tory challenger on 33 per cent, a lead of 13 points. Political Editor Nicholas Cecil reports.
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00:00 So, can Susan Hall beat Sadiq Khan to be the next Mayor of London?
00:07 That's a question that some political experts in the capital are just starting to ask.
00:13 The reason for this is a new poll by Savanta for the Marl End Institute at Queen Mary University of London,
00:21 which put Mr Khan 13 points ahead of his Tory challenger.
00:27 Now, 13 points might sound a big gap, it may well be a big gap,
00:33 but what is clear, it is far smaller than the gaps of 24 or 25 points that were being recorded at the start of the contest.
00:44 Now, all these different polls use different methodologies to come to their findings,
00:50 so it's not possible to make direct comparisons.
00:54 But what is clear is that the polls do appear to be narrowing as we approach the May 2nd election date.
01:03 Mr Khan is still ahead in both outer London and inner London, so he's clearly still the favourite.
01:13 But it's now getting to the possibilities where the election result could be close, could actually be very close.
01:23 And there are a number of other factors which make the result even more uncertain.
01:30 The first-past-the-post voting system is being used for the first time, so we don't know the impact of that.
01:38 There is also voter ID, which is seen to possibly favour the Conservatives more.
01:46 And also, younger voters, while they say they will back Mr Khan generally in larger numbers,
01:54 on polling day often they vote less proportionately than older voters, including pensioners,
02:01 and Ms Hall has more support amongst this age group.
02:06 So while we're still a week away from polling day, it's impossible to call the election result,
02:14 but certainly it looks like it's going to be far closer, or may well be far closer, than many people thought just weeks ago.
02:22 (upbeat music)