A majority of Londoners do not want Sadiq Khan to stand for a fourth term as Mayor, according to a new YouGov poll released on Thursday. The survey found 56% of people living in the capital think he should step down and allow a different Labour candidate to contest the next mayoral election, due in May 2028. This includes almost a third (31%) of those who supported him at the last vote in 2024.
Declining conditions across the capital
More than half of Londoners (55%) say they believe the city has become a worse place to live since Sir Sadiq was first elected 10 years ago. Housing was a major point of contention, with just 17% saying the Mayor was handling the issue “well”, while 66% said he was handling it “badly”. Only 5% of people surveyed thought the amount of affordable housing in London had improved over the last decade, compared to three quarters (76%) who said it had got worse. This is despite Sir Sadiq vowing that building more homes would be his “single biggest priority” when he first entered City Hall in 2016.
Londoners were also more likely to report conditions declining when it came to the economy and jobs (69%), homelessness (62%), high streets and public spaces (62%) and crime (58%).
Potential successors and future plans
Sir Sadiq is yet to confirm whether he will stand for a fourth term after winning a landslide victory in 2024. In February, he gave his strongest signal yet that he may run again at the 2028 contest. However, there are understood to be several high-profile Labour politicians who want to take on the job, including former foreign secretary David Lammy and Brent East MP Dawn Butler. A recent poll for the Mile End Institute, Queen Mary University of London (QMUL), found Sir Sadiq would win a fourth term if he stood despite a surge in support for the Greens.
Mixed public opinion on Khan's tenure
The latest YouGov survey was not all bad news for the incumbent Mayor. Some 37% of people said they believed public transport had got better in the city over the last ten years, compared to 27% who think it has stayed the same and 30% who said it had gotten worse. Overall, 40% of Londoners think Sir Sadiq has done a good job over the decade, compared to 47% who say he has done a bad job. The poll also showed 42% of people believe he has done a better job as Mayor than his predecessor Boris Johnson, while less than a third of people (31%) said he has done a worse job than Mr Johnson.
Matthew Smith, YouGov data journalist, said: “While Sadiq Khan has a reasonably high favourability rating among Londoners, at least for a politician, only 24% of them think he should run for a fourth term as Mayor of London. This compares to the 56% who think he should let a different Labour candidate contest that election, which is scheduled for May 2028. Among those who voted Labour at the last general election 39% think he should run again, compared to 41% who think he should stand down.” The Mayor of London’s office was contacted for comment.
