Sadiq Khan is slammed by Mayoral rival Susan Hall over lawless London and 'pointless' ULEZ expansion during foul-tempered debate

Sadiq Khan was berated over his record on policing and ULEZ during a bad-tempered London mayor debate last night.

The Labour incumbent came under fire from Tory candidate Susan Hall as they clashed on LBC with just over a week until crucial local elections.  

Ms Hall insisted Londoners 'don't feel safe' and told Mr Khan that 'nobody believes you any more' as she went on the attack. 

But the mayor hit back by branding Ms Hall the 'most dangerous candidate I have fought against', accusing her of portraying the capital as something out of gritty Baltimore crime drama The Wire. 

Polls have suggested Mr Khan is on track to secure a third term on May 2, although the gap has narrowed somewhat. 

The Labour and Tory hopefuls appeared alongside the Lib Dem and Green contenders Rob Blackie and Zoe Garbett.

Pressed on his comments in 2021 that Ulez did not need to be expanded, Mr Khan said the World Health Organisation had changed their guidelines on air toxicity levels.

'I'm not going to apologise at all for cleaning up the air in our city,' she said. 

But Ms Hall said the mayor's own impact assessment had shown that ULEZ will 'make virtually no difference at all'.

She said that the mayor would bring in pay-per-mile charging for vehicles in London and described his policy record as 'absolutely abysmal'.

However, she refused to spell out where the £200 million in revenue that Ulez brings would instead come from, saying it was 'a long, complicated mix'.

When asked about the Metropolitan Police, all four candidates said they had confidence in embattled commissioner Sir Mark Rowley.

Mr Khan said he thought the Met was ahead of other police services across the country and praised Sir Mark for 'making remarkable progress'.

Ms Hall disagreed and said London was in 'a very serious situation', and that she had been told by those working in the night-time economy about 'gangs running around with machetes'.

The Tory candidate said Londoners 'cannot see their local police', defending claiming that the capital is 'under seige'. 

'Londoners do not feel safe,' she said. 'There's a phone stolen every six minutes in London. You tell that to people who can't wear their watches in London.' 

However, Mr Khan said: 'I think the Tory candidate should stop watching The Wire.'

Asked about affordable housing during the LBC debate on Tuesday, Mr Khan said he would fund 6,000 rent-control homes and 40,000 council homes and provide free legal advice to tenants.

Ms Hall said rent control would not work because of high rental costs, and that the problem was a lack of housing being built.

She said: 'All you ever do, Sadiq, is throw numbers out there that when people try and analyse them and look into them, you then throw another load of numbers out there.

'Nobody believes you any more because you don't deliver.'

Put to him by presenter Tom Swarbrick that Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer disagrees with him on rent control, Mr Khan said: 'Unlike the Tory candidate, I will stand up to the Labour leader and a Conservative leader.

'It's really important you've got a mayor that is a champion and advocate for the city, not in the pocket of the leader of their party.'

Hall said she had been campaigning with party leader Rishi Sunak in Kensington last month, and that the Prime Minister fully backed her campaign.

Other issues aired by callers included help for struggling families with the cost of living and rough sleeping.

Mr Khan promised to extend universal free school meals in primary schools permanently, while Ms Hall said she would continue the policy as mayor despite previously suggesting the idea was wrong.

Put to him that rough sleeping had increased by 71 per cent since 2016, Mr Khan said the issue 'breaks my heart' but that there was 'a conveyor belt of new people' coming on to London's streets, a comment subsequently called out by Ms Garbett and Ms Hall.