London Mayor election 2016: Sadiq Khan's Labour manifesto

Londoners head to the polls to choose their new mayor today - with Sadiq Khan the clear favourite to win.

The Labour candidate has held a strong and consistent lead in the polls and looks on course to replace Boris Johnson with a campaign focused on housing, transport and equality.

Here are some of the Tooting MP's key manifesto pledges and details of how he plans to fulfil them:

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

Housing

Soaring prices and a lack of affordable homes ensured all of the candidates made housing their top priority. Khan has promised to reform the rental market by introducing the London Living Rent – a new type of home where rents are a third of local tenants' average incomes

For first-time buyers, he plans to introduce a 50 per cent affordable housing target for new developments and give renters priority to buy, ahead of landlords or investors.

"I'll seek out new sources of investment and use planning powers effectively to raise the number of new and affordable homes London builds," Khan promises in his manifesto.

Transport

As a former transport minister and the son of a London bus driver, Khan says the capital's transport system "has always been a big part of my life". He has pledged to freeze fares until 2020 and introduce a one-hour bus ticket for unlimited travel in the capital.

"Londoners face a crystal-clear choice on fares," says Khan. "A four-year fares freeze if I'm mayor, so you won't pay a penny more in 2020 than you do today, or a 17 per cent rise under [Tory candidate] Zac Goldsmith."

Khan has faced criticism from rivals on how this will be funded, but he insists it will be paid for by learning lessons from other European capitals to modernise Transport For London (TfL).

Business

"I want to be the most pro-business mayor yet," says Khan, pledging to work closely with companies "to make London a more prosperous city and to spread the opportunity to all Londoners".

He has promised that apprenticeships will be at the heart of his business agenda and will tackle low pay by ensuring as many people as possible receive a £10-an-hour London living wage.

The environment

Faced with Goldsmith's strong environmental credentials, Khan has struggled somewhat to present himself as the greenest candidate in the race.

However, his manifesto includes a wide range of policies to tackle air pollution and climate change, including keeping high-polluting vehicles out of central London, the pedestrianisation of Oxford Street, campaigning against a third runway at Heathrow and making cycling in the city easier and safer.

Police and security

Khan has vowed to restore neighbourhood policing and invest in new technologies to help ensure that officers are able to spend more time on the frontline. A tough knife-crime strategy is also included in his manifesto.

The Muslim candidate says one of his main priorities will be to root out all forms of extremism and radicalisation by working closely with Islamic communities and the police. He has also promised a review of the Metropolitan Police's armed response capability to ensure they are ready to cope with the threat of a terrorist attack.

Equality

Describing himself as proud feminist, Khan has put gender equality at the heart of his campaign and pledged to prioritise closing the gender pay gap. He has also vowed to put more police officers on transport networks to combat sexual assault against women.

He promises a "zero tolerance" approach to hate crimes, to tackle discrimination against the LGBT community and to make London an easier place for people with disabilities.

"Although London has made great strides over the years in tackling sexism, racism, homophobia and discrimination against people with disabilities, there is still a great deal of work to do," he says. "I will always stand up against prejudice and hatred."