Conservative candidate Susan Hall unveils manifesto as she pledges to scrap Ulez expansion on day one as Mayor

22 April 2024, 10:53 | Updated: 22 April 2024, 13:06

Conservative candidate Susan Hall has pledged to “fix London” and scrap the planned Ulez expansion on “day one” as she unveiled her mayoral manifesto.

She said the expansion is “unfair” and that she would also cancel the pay-per-mile plans of Labour rival Sadiq Khan on her first day as Mayor. This comes after a spokesperson for Mr Khan said: "Sadiq has repeatedly and categorically ruled out pay-per-mile for as long as he is mayor."

A YouGov poll on Friday indicated that Ms Hall was 19 points behind the current Mayor, with 27 per cent of the vote compared to Mr Khan’s 46 per cent.

Ms Hall, who was leader of the City Hall Conservatives from 2019-2023, was critical of Mr Khan and the conditions of the capital under his leadership.

Her key pledges

• Scrap the Ulez expansion and pay-per-mile on day one.
• Make London safer by recruiting more police.
• Build more family homes that Londoners can afford.

She said: “For eight years, we’ve had a Mayor who won’t listen. It is time we changed that.

“I have lived in London for my entire life. It’s where I brought up my children, where I started my business, and where I have served for over a decade as a councillor.

“It breaks my heart to see London decline, as I am sure it does yours. I am determined to fix it.

“The ULEZ expansion is unfair and needs to be scrapped on day one. TfL will be ordered to cease enforcement of the expanded ULEZ and Sadiq Khan’s pay-per-mile plans will be cancelled.”

Ahead of the mayoral election taking place on 2 May, Ms Hall has also prioritised reducing crime, particularly targeting knife crime and crime against women.

She has vowed to recruit 1,500 more police officers, set up two new police bases in each borough and bring back borough-based policing.

Ms Hall said she would be “building back trust with communities and getting the police out solving crimes again”.

She added: “We will take firm, targeted action on knife crime, women’s safety and theft, and reform the police from top to bottom to eliminate unacceptable and criminal behaviour by officers.”

Ms Hall’s manifesto also prioritises affordable housing, green choices for Londoners and implementing a transport strategy that will “stop the war on motorists”.

She would increase investment to “build more family homes that Londoners can afford” by focusing on “high-density, low-rise homes”.

On her environmental and transport policies, she said: “We will work with councils and the government to increase the number of electric vehicle charging points and take targeted action to reduce air pollution.

“We will extend the Night Tube onto up to four more lines and reinstate the Freedom Pass and 60+ Oyster Card in peak morning hours.

“We will help communities to remove unwanted LTNs and remove 20mph zones where safe to do so.”