London elections 2021: What can the mayor of London do?

The mayor of London has the biggest private mandate of any politician within the UK, with a constituency of 6.2 million voters.

For the privilege, Londoners pay on common £365 a yr by means of a proportion of their council tax.

The mayor can not make new legal guidelines and isn’t answerable for taking the bins out. However they will increase taxes which, together with grants from central authorities, fund a £17bn funds.

The facility of the Better London Authority (GLA) comes from the mayor, with the London Meeting there to carry the mayor to account.

It is a high-profile job, at the moment held by Sadiq Khan, and it is up for re-election on 6 Could. So what are Londoners voting for?

The mayor’s principal energy lies within the space of transport. She or he oversees Transport for London (TfL) which handles as much as 5 million passenger journeys within the capital a day – when there’s not a worldwide pandemic.

The mayor is answerable for the bus and taxi community, the Tube, Overground, Docklands Gentle Railway (DLR), cable automobile, and all different TfL companies.

On this function, the mayor has the ability to set fares, which is the place TfL will get nearly all of its funding.

As well as, the mayor has some powers over who can use London’s roads – the Congestion Cost and the Extremely Low Emission Zones each got here from the mayor’s workplace.

The mayor additionally has the ability to place cycle lanes on London’s foremost roads, though native councils are answerable for all different roads.

She or he additionally retains a share of enterprise charges to fund Crossrail – which is run by Crossrail Ltd, an organization collectively owned by TfL and the Division for Transport.

Solely about 30% of the Metropolitan Police’s funds comes from the mayor – the remaining 70% comes immediately from nationwide authorities.

However the mayor formally acts because the police and crime commissioner for London, which suggests the mayor has a task in setting out how London is policed and staffed.

The mayor appoints the Metropolitan Police commissioner, who’s answerable for the day-to-day operating of the police, and holds them to account.

The mayor has related powers over the London Fireplace Brigade, setting the funds and approving the London Security Plan.

Lastly, the mayor additionally works with completely different businesses and authorities departments to ensure London is ready for storms, main fires and terror assaults.

The mayor has restricted powers over the response to illness outbreak emergencies, because the coronavirus pandemic has proven.

From the outset, the federal government and public well being authorities took cost of hospitals and later, the vaccine rollout.

Mr Khan stated he had been excluded from discussions on how to answer coronavirus within the capital, however the governmen stated it had stored native leaders knowledgeable of choices all through the pandemic.

Whereas the mayor has no direct say on lockdown restrictions, Mr Khan performed a public function in advocating for London within the latest local tiered lockdown system and the accompanying help packages.

The powers right here are likely to contain setting targets on numbers and affordability, and dealing on them with native authorities and builders.

The present mayor, Mr Khan, has acquired almost £9bn in funding from central authorities to construct 151,000 inexpensive houses.

She or he also can reject or approve bigger house-building tasks.

Most of that is set out within the London Plan, an enormous doc that was revealed earlier this month and which took most of Mr Khan’s time period to jot down.

The mayor has few direct powers over the financial system. As a substitute, she or he acts as a enterprise hub, providing help and recommendation, and connecting firms with buyers.

In some situations, the mayor can supply money prizes for enterprise working in areas they need to encourage.

Since 2007, the mayor has additionally had powers over “strategic planning”. This implies she or he can provide permission to tasks thought of necessary to London’s growth.

The mayor can also be anticipated to help London’s tradition and inventive industries.

She or he runs the London Borough of Culture, which provides a special space of London a £1m grant every year to ship a programme of actions.

Since 2016, the GLA has additionally employed a “evening tsar”, answerable for supporting London’s nightlife, together with safeguarding venues throughout town.

Because the workplace was created in 2000, the three males who’ve held the publish have every carved out their very own platform on the nationwide and worldwide stage.

The mayors have spoken for London in each disaster and celebration – maybe greatest represented by Ken Livingstone’s speech on the 7/7 bombings made within the foyer of a Singapore resort after London’s bid to host the 2012 Olympics.

Mayors are anticipated to advertise London on the worldwide stage, encouraging funding and vacationers to flood into London.

Yow will discover an inventory of all of the candidates who’ve stated they are going to be operating for London mayor here.