Mayor of London

The most recent London mayoral election was held on 6 May 2021, having been delayed from May 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.[3] The results were announced in the evening of 8 May.[4] Sadiq Khan was re-elected for a second term, beating the Conservative Shaun Bailey in the second round.

Initiatives taken by Ken Livingstone as Mayor of London included the London congestion charge on private vehicles using city centre London on weekdays, the creation of the London Climate Change Agency, the London Energy Partnership and the founding of the international Large Cities Climate Leadership Group, now known as C40 Cities Climate Leadership Group. The congestion charge led to many new buses being introduced across London. In August 2003, Livingstone oversaw the introduction of the Oyster card electronic ticketing system for Transport for London services.[11] Livingstone supported the withdrawal of the vintage AEC Routemaster buses from regular service in London.[12]

Livingstone introduced the London Partnerships Register which was a voluntary scheme without legal force for same sex couples to register their partnership, and paved the way for the introduction by the United Kingdom Parliament of civil partnerships and later still, Same-sex marriage. Unlike civil partnerships, the London Partnerships Register was open to heterosexual couples who favour a public commitment other than marriage.

As Mayor of London, Ken Livingstone was a supporter of the London Olympics in 2012, ultimately winning the bid to host the Games in 2005. Livingstone encouraged sport in London; especially when sport could be combined with helping charities like The London Marathon and 10K charity races. Livingstone, in a mayoral election debate on the BBC's Question Time in April 2008, stated that the primary reason he supported the Olympic bid was to secure funding for the redevelopment of the East End of London. In July 2007, he brought the Tour de France cycle race to London.

In May 2008, Boris Johnson introduced a new transport safety initiative to put 440 high visibility police officers in and around bus stations.[13] A ban on alcohol on underground, and Docklands Light Railway, tram services and stations across the capital was introduced.[14]

Also in May 2008, he announced the closure of The Londoner newspaper, saving approximately £2.9 million. A percentage of this saving was to be spent on planting 10,000 new street trees.[15]

In 2010, he extended the coverage of Oyster card electronic ticketing to all National Rail overground train services.[16] Also in 2010, he opened a cycle hire scheme (originally sponsored by Barclays, now Santander) with 5,000 bicycles available for hire across London. Although initiated by his predecessor, Ken Livingstone, the scheme rapidly acquired the nickname of "Boris Bikes". Johnson withdrew the recently introduced high-speed high-capacity "bendy buses" from service in 2011 which had been bought by Livingstone, and he instead supported the development of the New Routemaster[17] which entered service the next year.

In 2011, Boris Johnson set up the Outer London Fund of £50 million designed to help facilitate improve local high streets.[18] Areas in London were given the chance to submit proposals for two tranches of funding. Successful bids for Phase 1 included Enfield,[19] Muswell Hill[20] and Bexley Town Centre.[21] The recipients of phase 2 funding were still to be announced As of 2011.

In January 2013, he appointed journalist Andrew Gilligan as the first Cycling Commissioner for London.[22] In March 2013, Johnson announced £1 billion of investment in infrastructure to make cycling safer in London, including a 15-mile (24 km) East to West segregated 'Crossrail for bikes'.[23]

At the General Election of 7 May 2015, Johnson was elected MP for Uxbridge and Ruislip South,[24] He continued to serve as mayor until the mayoral election in May 2016, when Sadiq Khan was elected.

Sadiq Khan introduced the 'bus hopper' fare on TfL buses, which allows passengers to board a second bus within one hour for the same fare.[25] Under Khan, paper and coin cash transactions became obsolete and the Oyster system was expanded to include debit and credit cards. This initiative was started under his predecessor, Johnson.

Upon election, Khan outlined a vision to make London the "greenest city" by investing in walking and cycling infrastructure while reducing polluting vehicles.[26] In 2019, the "Ultra Low Emission Zone" scheme was launched which taxes highly polluting vehicles in its covered territory.[27] London declared itself the world's first "National Park City" (effective from July 2019),[28] reflecting its unusually high amount of green space for a city of its size.[29]

The Government postponed all elections due in May 2020, including for the mayor of London, for one year due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Khan had therefore served a term in office of five years rather than four, which ended in May 2021.[30]