As it happened: London mayor hopefuls in BBC debate

The debate comes to an end with the four candidates being given 30 seconds to say why they should be mayor.

Khan starts and calls the election "a two-horse race".

He says a vote for him means free school meals, affordable transport, more council homes and more investment in police and youth clubs.

Blackie goes next and says the Conservatives "cannot win in this election" but he doesn't believe "Sadiq Khan deserves to win".

He says his top priority would be "to fix the Metropolitan Police".

Garbett, who goes third, says she a renter, a councillor and a health worker "which is why I'm really passionate about addressing inequality in this city".

She says she wants to make the city more affordable and "will always be on the side of renters".

Finally, Hall says she wants "to see a change" as "things are going horribly wrong".

She says Ulez has affected those with the least amount of money so she would stop the expansion "from day one" as well as "absolutely" not bringing in pay-per-mile.

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Blackie says the initial introduction of Ulez was a success as people were given time to buy new vehicles but only nine months was given with the expansion "which made it a lot harder for people to adapt".

"We have to take people with us if we're going to make big changes to the environment."

Garbett says she would have a conversation with Londoners about the charging model as "it's all about fairness", as well improving public transport.

Meanwhile Khan says people should not "put up with dirty air" and he's proud of his policies.

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Nestor says in Khan's book Breathe, published last year, he spoke about introducing pay-per-mile, but now he claims it's not needed.

When asked why Khan says that is the case he says it's because "we don't need it now because we expanded Ulez to cover the whole of London".

He accuses Hall of trying to scare Londoners by accusing him over pay-per-mile.

Hall says Khan spoke about pay-per-mile in a podcast last year and also said he would never introduce the Ulez expansion but still did so "nobody trusts you anymore".

Hall says she "absolutely" would get rid of the Ulez expansion as soon as she becomes mayor if she is voted in.

She says many Londoners can't afford to buy new Ulez-compliant vehicles so are stuck paying the charge.

"It is a real situation in outer London," she says.

When asked if Ulez is still an issue for members of the audience, about a third raise their hands.

The ultra-low emission zone (Ulez) was expanded in August to cover the whole of London.

Sadiq Khan's flagship policy was to improve the capital’s air and charge those whose vehicles did not meet emissions standards £12.50 a day for the privilege.

The scheme extended zone introduced for inner London in 2019 which had barely raised any opposition.

However, insiders admitted that City Hall was caught off guard and surprised by the strength of feeling against the expansion.

Six months on, figures obtained by the BBC have shown the expanded zone has generated £130m in revenues so far.

Meanwhile, clean air campaigners, using unverified data, claim it has reduced pollution in outer London.

Read more here.

Khan says it's important to "make it easier for people to walk and cycle" and he says he's "proud" of the efforts he's made to make cycling safer, as well as freezing TfL fares over five in the last eight years.

Blackie points out that travel cards haven't been included, but Khan ignores him.

He then speaks about the importance of "good LTNs" and says 20 mph speed limits help reduce road fatalities.

Asked what she would do, Garbett says she would "have conversations with Londoners to make charging fairer".

When asked whether that would mean road charging she says she's "a fan because the system we've got currently is unfair" so that people only pay "for the time when they're on the roads".

She also says she would make public transport more affordable as well as making cycling more appealing.

Blackie says most cabs in London are now electric but there are a lack of fast charging points so it's important "we get a lot more of those".

Nestor points out the question was more about road space and moves on to Hall.

She says there is currently "a war on motorists" with aspects like 20 mph limits and "a successful city is a moving city".

"We've got to look at ways that everyone can get round our city better and at the moment we are gridlocked."

Nestor moves the debate on to transport and the environment.

Taxi driver Paul is in the audience and asks what the candidates can do ensure licensed taxis can continue to provide efficient services to Londoners.

Marion, a cyclist, then asks what the candidates would do to improve the roads for cyclists.

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Hall tells Nestor she has lobbied the Conservative government for London many times such as when she was leader of Harrow Council.

She says it's important that the mayor "doesn't blame everyone else when anything go wrong" and "the mayor of London should start taking responsibility because a leader takes responsibility".

Khan repeats that he has "smashed" housebuilding targets.

A member of the audience then asks the candidates about what can be done about homelessness in London.

Khan says progress has been made "despite the government", pointing to the number of affordable homes being built.

He also says the London Plan should not be ripped up as it would give all the power to developers.

Blackie points out that Khan said he would stop homelessness in his last manifesto.

Khan says while he's been mayor 16,000 rough sleepers have been taken off the streets and he will end rough sleeping "by the end of this decade".

While in power for the last eight years, Khan has said he "smashed all the targets the government set us".

But the 40,000 homes a year built since 2016 failed the target he set himself, laid out in the London Plan, to build 52,000 homes a year, half of them affordable.

Using £4.8bn from Whitehall, the main target he reached was "starting" work on 116,000 affordable homes by 2023.

Over the same period, 65,000 affordable homes have been "completed" under the Labour mayor, compared to more than 90,000 under his predecessor Boris Johnson.

Find out more here.

Khan says he is optimistic that if a Labour government is elected while he is mayor more will be able to be done when it comes to building homes.

He says he has started building more council homes than any other time period since the 1970s.

Blackie, meanwhile, says the "housing crisis in London is completely out of control" and says he would change the London Plan to make it easier to build more.

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Hall says there is only one answer to the housing crisis - “more has got to be built”.

She says she particularly wants to see more family homes be built as "you'll have more houses to sell".

Host Eddie Nestor then asks the audience whether they are confident that more houses will actually be built.

No one raises their hand.

Garbett is first to open on the topic of housing and says as a private renter a lot of Shiri’s story chimes with her.

“I can’t afford to buy a property in the area I currently live and am a councillor in,” she says.

She acknowledge people feel priced out and says her solution is to introduce rent controls.

“I would create a rent commission full of renters who can loudly call on the government to introduce those controls.”

Figures from the Greater London Authority show an average of 8,000 affordable homes have been built each year compared to the 26,000 needed.

Although the amount of new housing is increasing faster than London’s population, housing charities have warned of severe pressures with private rents rising 10 percent last year.

According to Zoopla, the average rent in London is now more than £2,000 a month,

London Councils say there are currently about 66,000 families facing the limbo and instability of a temporary home.

Read more here.

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The debate moves on to housing and we first hear from Shiri who has been struggling as a private renter.

She says she feels like she has no power as “all the power is with the landlords” and that the “system doesn’t work for people like me”.

As a lifelong Londoner she doesn’t want to be forced out of the capital so wants to know what candidates will do to ensure there is more affordable social housing.

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Blackie argues that what has happened while Khan has been mayor is that half as many sexual offenders are being caught as when he first came to power, "and I think that's shameful".

Hall, who also accuses Khan of pointing at her in a misogynistic way as "he often has", says there are "far more than a few rotten apples" in the Met and "it needs to be dealt with".

She says she will bring in a women's commission as “I’m a women and I know that women do not feel safe."

Khan says he has three key policies to tackle violence against women:

1. Prevention: “We will make sure boys at school are taught how to treat and respect women"
2. Target: “We will target the perpetrators through GPS tagging and have more police on the street"
3. Support: "We will support survivors by funding legal advice"

“It’s far too easy to become a police officer and far too difficult to get rid of them,” he adds.