The campaign for the next Mayor of London election, scheduled for 4 May 2028, is already underway. James Cleverly, who recently stepped down as shadow secretary of state for housing, communities and local government, is seeking the Conservative party's nomination. The deadline for applications for the Conservative nomination is Wednesday, 30 September.
Reform UK has announced Laila Cunningham, a former Crown Prosecution Service lawyer, as their candidate. Cunningham was previously a Conservative until last year.
Current Mayor Sadiq Khan, who was introduced into the House of Lords last week, has not yet confirmed whether he will seek a fourth term. Polling suggests a majority of voters believe he should not run again, but also indicates he remains the candidate to beat if he does stand.
If Khan chooses not to stand, potential Labour candidates include former Deputy Prime Minister David Lammy, Corbyn-era Shadow Cabinet minister Dawn Butler, and Khan’s successor as MP for Tooting, Dr Rosena Allin-Khan.
Opposition parties have criticised Khan's tenure regarding law and order, particularly concerning knife crime. Reform UK's Laila Cunningham has stated, "It’s a dereliction of duty that there’s not more policing, more access to police," and claimed there are "no safe parts" of London. However, a King’s College London Policy Institute report indicates London has one of the country’s lowest rates of violent crime, slightly lower than five years ago.