And they're off...

The last few days saw the starting pistol fired on the race for City Hall. After months of unofficial campaigning, the phoney war is now behind us, as the formal campaign period begins. Already, two of the candidates have launched their campaigns – expect the others to follow suit in the coming days. As we cover in this week's LCA LDN newsletter, policy promises are coming thick and fast. The manifestos themselves won’t be far away.

Rest assured that LCA’s Insight Team will be keeping you abreast of all the twists and turns, so do sign up to receive LDN weekly to your inbox every Wednesday.

As part of this, we’re launching a new blog series ‘Race for City Hall’ ahead of polling day on 2 May. In the weeks leading up to election day, LCA’s industry-leading team of experts and opinion formers will give their take on some of the key topics related to the built environment which might play a role in determining the outcome of the contest.

First up, LCA’s Senior Advisor and Partner, Robert Gordon Clark – a seasoned observer of all six mayoral contests to date, sets the scene for what could be a pivotal election in London’s history. Partner & Board Director Chris Madel then takes a look at the role transport and infrastructure might play in the mayoral election. Be sure to read, share and check our socials for more.

Yet, with so much of the chatter at a national level focused on the will he/won’t he drama of Rishi Sunak calling a General Election (and rumblings of a plot against him by his own backbenchers), the mayoral contest is somewhat under the radar. But for all the main parties, their performance on 2 May matters. Voters go to the polls in London for the Mayor and Assembly, but beyond the M25 Metro Mayors are also up for re-election, as are all Police & Crime Commissioners and nearly 2,000 local councillors. We might not like the fact that voters use these kinds of elections to express an opinion on the Government of the day, but that is the reality we find ourselves in. Early May will provide a barometer of the political weather and could be key in determining where the momentum lies.

There are two major changes to this mayoral contest – the first is the voting system (this time, there is just a single vote rather than a first and preference vote). Second, ID is required for voting in person at a polling station. There’s a list of acceptable forms of ID, or you can apply for a Voter Authority Certificate – if you have neither, you will be turned away.

Both of these changes aren’t without controversy and introduce an element of the unknown into the contest. Already the Electoral Commission has warned that hundreds of thousands of people risk being unable to vote – London’s demographics could see a disproportionate number of people lacking the right ID. Little surprise perhaps that Sadiq Khan is being very vocal that this could hit his chances.

So far, there are 12 declared candidates vying to be the next Mayor of London. If you fancy throwing your hat in the ring, there’s still time – deadline for submitting nomination papers is 4pm on 27 March. All you need is 330 signatures from people on the electoral register (ten from each borough, plus the City of London) and a ￡10,000 deposit. Don’t worry – you’ll get this back if you get over 5% of the vote – last time round, that was a mere 120,000 votes!

If you don’t fancy risking ￡10,000 or thrusting yourself into the spotlight as a candidate, don’t forget to register to vote (deadline 16 April) so you can have a say in who does win on 2 May.

Nick Bowes, Managing Director, Insight

(This is a slightly tweaked version of the introduction to the LDN newsletter, which you can read in full here).

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