Sir Keir Starmer joined Sadiq Khan on Monday as he launched his re-election campaign 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.
The Labour leader told Londoners they had the choice between “chaos and division with the Tories, or unity and hope with Labour” as the Conservatives nationally have suffered a series of recent setbacks.
Despite polls suggesting Mr Khan is way ahead of his Tory rival Susan Hall, the mayor sought to argue that the contest for City Hall was set to be the “closest ever” and stressed it is a “two-horse race” with the voting system changing to first-past-the-post.
In his first campaign pledge, Mr Khan vowed to deliver 40,000 new council homes for the capital between 2018 and 2030, building on his previous target of starting 20,000 which he met last year.
He branded it the “greatest council homebuilding drive in a generation” but the extra homes are still dwarfed by the number of people on council house waiting lists.
“As Mayor, I’m under no illusion about the scale of the challenge,” he said at his campaign launch in central London, with sky-high property prices and rents making it hard for so many people to find an affordable home in the city.
The mayor’s pledge came as Housing Secretary Michael Gove intervened in the capital’s housing crisis by directing Mr Khan to partially review the London Plan to try to incrase the number of new homes.
On the choice for the May 2 mayoral election, he added: “We can go from rowing against the tide of a Tory Government to having the winds of a Labour Government at our backs.
“But we can only capitalise on this rare, precious opening if we ensure we keep hold of City Hall for Labour.”
If this happened and Sir Keir gets the keys to No10, he emphasised, then there would be a Labour Mayor and a Labour government working hand-in-hand in a “once in a generation opportunity to make real inroads into solving London’s housing crisis”.
But Mr Khan’s homes record cam under fire from Ms Hall.
She said: “Sadiq Khan is trying to pull the wool over people’s eyes, by pledging a target that mostly consists of existing homes or those already started.
“He is not listening to Londoners, who are facing soaring rents because he is not building enough new homes.”
The Tories believe the city’s housing crisis is a factor which could swing voters away from Mr Khan.
However, Sir Keir was due to say: “On May 2nd the choice is clear: chaos and division with the Tories, or unity and hope with Labour.”
Local authorities build council homes and the mayor has sought to ramp up these programmes, with a high number of council home starts getting funding from City Hall.
If Mr Khan wins a third term, it would end in 2028, so some of that 40,000 homes target would almost certainly be completed in later years.
With just weeks to go before the mayoral vote, the Tories have been hit by two “racism” storms including Lee Anderson’s “Islamists” rant against Mr Khan and the capital, and Conservative donor Frank Hester’s abhorent remarks about London MP Diane Abbott.
Ms Hall has earlier faced criticism for “liking” inflammatory tweets in 2019 and 2020 that referred to “Londonistan” and Enoch Powell.
At his launch, Mr Khan stressed: “As Mayor, I’ve also never stopped standing up for London’s values of openness, equality and inclusion.
“Striving to unite London’s communities, not divide them.
“Because let me be clear: London’s diversity isn’t a weakness, it’s a formidable strength and it makes London not only special, but the greatest city on earth.”
Ms Hall has sought to focus her campaign on Mr Khan’s record in City Hall, offering rival plans and also stressing the benefits of a diverse city.
The mayor also defended his record on tackling air pollution, despite the controversy over the expansion of the Ultra Low Emission Zone to Outer London, on tackling crime in the city where too many young Londoners are still being killed in knife attacks, on transport including keeping down fares this year, and on his free school meals programme for primary school pupils.
