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 12 months via a proportion of their council tax.

The mayor can not make new legal guidelines and isn’t answerable for taking the bins out, however with the tax income and grants from central authorities, they’re accountable for a £17bn finances.

It is a high-profile job, at present held by Sadiq Khan, and it is up for re-election on 6 Might. 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 world pandemic.

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

On this position, the mayor has the ability to set fares, which is the place TfL will get the vast majority 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 major roads, though native councils are answerable for all different roads.

Solely about 30% of the Metropolitan Police’s finances 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 implies the mayor has a task in setting out how London is policed and staffed.

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

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

Lastly, the mayor additionally works with totally different companies and authorities departments to verify London is ready for storms, main fires and terror assaults.

However the coronavirus pandemic has proven the mayor has restricted energy over responding to emergencies when they’re illness outbreaks.

Present mayor Sadiq Khan says the federal government excluded him from discussions on how to reply to coronavirus within the capital. The federal government stated it had stored native leaders knowledgeable of choices all through the pandemic.

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 obtained practically £9bn in funding from central authorities to construct 151,000 reasonably priced houses.

She or he may reject or approve bigger house-building websites.

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

When it was created, the mayor’s key perform was to advertise financial growth and wealth creation in London.

Nevertheless, the GLA has few direct powers over the economic system. As an alternative the mayor acts as a enterprise hub, providing help and recommendation, and connecting firms with buyers.

In some cases the mayor can provide money prizes for enterprise working in areas they need to encourage.

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

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

The mayor runs the London Borough of Tradition, which provides a unique borough in London a £1m grant annually 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.

The mayor has the ability to lift council tax.

The Higher London Authority (GLA) principle, which is added on to council tax, is about £365 a 12 months on the common Band D family. This helps fund our bodies just like the police and hearth brigade in addition to pay the wages of the mayor’s staff.

The mayor additionally retains a share of enterprise charges to fund tasks like Crossrail.

For the reason that workplace was created in 2000, the three males who’ve held the submit 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 lodge 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.

A major a part of the position is negotiating with central authorities for funding as a way to enhance London’s infrastructure.

Mr Khan performed a public position in negotiating the current native system of tiers for lockdown and the accompanying help packages.

You will discover a listing of all of the candidates who’ve stated they are going to be working for London mayor right here.