Key takeaways
- 42% of Londoners think Khan is currently doing well as Mayor of London; 47% think he is doing badly
- Londoners are divided on Khan's performance on transport, but negative when it comes to crime and housing
- Most Londoners think the capital is a worse place to live than it was 10 years ago
- Residents most likely to think house prices and the economy/jobs are the ways in which London has got worse; public transport and air quality are the ways they are most likely to say it has got better
In May this year, Sadiq Khan marked 10 years as Mayor of London. Assuming office in 2016 after defeating Conservative candidate Zac Goldsmith, he went on to win re-election in 2021 and 2024 and seems poised to run for an unprecedented fourth term. As Khan passes a decade in power, new YouGov data reveals how Londoners view the mayor and his record in office.
Londoners remain divided on Khan and his performance as mayor
Khan’s current net favourability score stands at -9, with 39% of Londoners holding a favourable view of the mayor compared to 48% who view him unfavourably. This is virtually unchanged from April 2024, prior to Khan’s re-election, when his net rating stood at -8.
Despite his negative net score, Khan’s ‘favourable’ figure is amongst the highest of all the politicians we asked about, with the notable exception being Andy Burnham. The former mayor of Greater Manchester, who has faced accusations of being anti-London, enjoys a favourability rating of +14 in the capital, with 46% of Londoners holding a positive view of him compared to 32% who have a negative view.
Looking specifically at his performance as mayor, Khan has seen a modest improvement in public perceptions from 2024. The proportion of Londoners who believe he is doing well in the job has risen by six points to 42%, though the most common response continues to be that he is performing badly (47%).
Opinions vary across the capital. Those residing in outer London boroughs, which skew older and have traditionally leaned Conservative, have a more negative opinion of Khan’s performance as mayor, with around half (51%) saying he is doing badly compared to 37% who say he is doing well. The reverse applies to inner Londoners, who by 52% to 39% think he is doing well in the job.
Looking at the Mayor of London’s three principal areas of responsibility - transport, policing and housing - provides a more complete picture of public opinion. Transport remains Khan’s strongest policy area, with 48% saying he is handling the issue well, up eight points from 2022, compared with 43% who say he is performing badly.
Ratings turn less positive when it comes to his handling of crime and housing. On crime, the mayor has been eager to share progress made in this area and push back on critics who portray the capital as unsafe, with recent data shared by City Hall has shown that neighbourhood crime has fallen in the last year, and homicide rates at an 11-year low.
Nevertheless, our latest data shows only modest improvement in the Khan’s handling of crime compared to when we first asked the question in 2022. While the proportion who think he is handling the issue well has increased by six points to 31%, the majority (57%) nevertheless still believe he is handling crime badly.
Whilst opinion on Khan’s handling of crime is showing signs of improvement, the same can’t be said for housing. Having fallen short of London’s already watered-down affordable housing targets, just 17% say he is handling this policy area well, compared with 66% who think he is handling it badly - a figure that has increased 10 points from 2022. Notably, nearly half (46%) of those who voted for Khan in 2024 also think he is handling this issue badly, compared to just over a third (37%) who say he is doing well in this area.
Londoners are generally negative about the direction the capital has taken over the last decade
Overall, the majority (55%) of Londoners say the capital is a worse place to live than it was 10 years ago, compared to 18% who say it has stayed about the same and 19% who say it has got better over that time.
This sentiment is more pronounced amongst longer term residents. Among those who have lived in London for longer than 10 years, 60% say the capital has become a worse place to live compared to 17% who believe it has become better. By contrast, those who have lived in London for less than 10 years are more evenly split, with 30% saying the capital has become a better place to live compared to 34% who say it has become worse.
Housing affordability stands out as the area Londoners feel has declined the most
When Khan first ran for office back in 2016, he said that housebuilding would be his “single biggest priority”, remaining a central feature in both his 2021 and 2024 manifestos.
Unfortunately for the mayor, this is the area which Londoners are most likely to feel has got worse over the last 10 years. A mere 5% think the availability of affordable housing has improved in the last decade, compared to three quarters (76%) who think it has got worse, including around half (54%) who say it has become “much worse”. A near equal number (74%) of those who voted for Khan in 2024 also share the view that affordability has gone backwards.
Beyond housing, Londoners are also more likely to say conditions have worsened when it comes to the economy and jobs (69%), rough sleeping and homelessness (62%), high streets and public spaces (62%), crime (58%), women’s safety (50%), community cohesion (49%), inequality (47%) and London’s international reputation (46%).
Even on the subject of air quality, where Khan has expended significant political capital to push through the controversial ULEZ expansion amid public backlash and legal challenges, Londoners are split on whether there has been any improvement. One in three (29%) say air quality has improved in the past decade, compared to a quarter (24%) who say it has stayed the same and 34% who believe it has worsened.
A silver lining for the mayor is that a plurality (37%) of Londoners believe public transport has got better over the past decade, compared to 27% who think it has stayed the same and 30% who say it has got worse.
While these findings reveal pessimism about how London has changed over the past decade, it would be misleading to attribute this sentiment solely to Khan and the decisions he has made in office. In fact, Londoners are somewhat split on his record over the past 10 years, with 40% saying he has done a good job over that time compared to 47% saying he has done a bad job.
Furthermore, 42% believe he has done a better job as mayor than Boris Johnson, compared to 31% who think he has done a worse job and 17% who think he has been about the same. That said, the margin tightens when looking specifically at those who have lived in London for longer than 15 years, with 39% saying Khan has been better and 36% saying he has been worse.
A majority of Londoners believe Khan should step aside before the next mayoral election
While Khan has yet to confirm whether he will seek an unprecedented fourth term and extend his record as London’s longest serving mayor, a majority (56%) of Londoners think he should step down and allow a different Labour candidate to contest the next mayoral election, currently scheduled for May 2028. This includes around a third (31%) of those who voted for Khan in the 2024 mayoral election.
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Photo: Getty