2028 London mayoral election
2028 election for the Mayor of London
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The 2028 London mayoral election is scheduled to be held on 4 May 2028 to elect the Mayor of London. The election will take place the same day alongside the elections to the London Assembly, as well as local elections across England. The incumbent Labour Party mayor, Sadiq Khan, won the previous three mayoral elections.
4 May 2028
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Electoral system
As the law currently stands, the election will use the first past the post system, which was introduced for the 2024 election following the Elections Act 2022. However a reintroduction of the supplementary vote is planned in the English Devolution and Community Empowerment Bill.[1]
The 2024 election also saw the ballots counted by hand for the first time, after previous mayoral elections had used a technological solution where ballots were scanned. The Greater London Authority are considering returning to a scanning system for 2028.[2]
Candidates
Labour Party
Incumbent mayor Sadiq Khan could stand for a fourth term. He is yet to announce whether he will stand,[3] and is considering running again.[4] However, it has been reported that he was expected to stand down,[5] and in June 2025, the New Statesman reported that Khan had privately indicated he did not wish to stand.[6] Despite these reports, in September 2025, Khan said that it was his "intention" to stand again in 2028,[7][8] and, in February 2026, said he had "already worked out" his campaign for the next election.[9]
Dawn Butler, the MP for Brent East, said in an interview with The Guardian in 2023 that she would put her name forwards if Khan were not to stand.[10][6] In 2025, she confirmed her intention to stand if Khan stood down.[11][12]
Other potential candidates include:
- Rosena Allin-Khan, MP for Tooting,[3][5][6]
- Mete Coban, Deputy Mayor of London for Environment and Energy,[3]
- Stella Creasy, MP for Walthamstow,[3][5][6]
- Idris Elba, actor and knife crime activist,[5]
- Florence Eshalomi, MP for Vauxhall and Camberwell Green,[3][6]
- Georgia Gould, MP for Queen's Park and Maida Vale and Cabinet Office minister,[3][6]
- Claire Holland, leader of Lambeth Council,[13]
- Lewis Iwu, campaigner and author,[13]
- David Lammy, MP for Tottenham and Deputy Prime Minister,[3][13]
- Emily Thornberry, MP for Islington South and Finsbury.[12]
Conservative Party
Potential candidates include:
- Nickie Aiken, former MP for Cities of London and Westminster,[13]
- James Cleverly, MP for Braintree, Shadow Housing, Communities and Local Government Secretary and former Home Secretary,[13][14]
- Sebastian Coe, former athlete, sports administrator and life peer,[4][15]
- Justine Greening, former MP for Putney and former Education minister,[13]
- Paul Scully, former MP for Sutton and Cheam, former London minister, and candidate for mayor in 2024.[13]
Reform UK
In January 2026, Reform announced that Laila Cunningham, a Westminster City Councillor and former CPS prosecutor, who defected from the Conservative Party to Reform UK in June 2025,[16][17][18] would be their candidate.[19]
Boxer Derek Chisora was previously mentioned as a potential candidate.[20]
Other potential candidates
Ant Middleton, a TV presenter and former soldier, had initially put himself forward to be a Reform candidate.[21] However, in August 2025, it was reported that he would instead stand as an independent.[22]
It has been reported that actor James Corden is considering standing for mayor. He is thought to be a Labour supporter.[23]
Thomas Skinner, a businessman and TV personality, is a potential candidate and was approached by three political parties, according to The Telegraph.[20]
Russell Brand, a comedian, said on The Tucker Carlson Show he "would like to run" for Mayor of London in 2028, and said he may be serving a jail sentence at the time of the election if he is found guilty in an ongoing rape trial.[24]
Opinion polls
In the run-up to the election, polling organisations carried out public opinion polling on voting intentions.
With generic party candidates
These polls were conducted before candidate details were finalised. Respondents were asked which party's candidate they would vote for.
| Date(s) conducted |
Pollster | Client | Sample size |
Lab | Con | LD | Grn | Ref | Others | Lead |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 17–23 Dec 2025 | Savanta[25] | QMUL | 1,006 | 32% | 20% | 11% | 13% | 19% | 5% | 12 |
| 29 Apr – 21 May 2025 | Savanta[26] | QMUL[27] | 1,003 | 35% | 23% | 14% | 11% | 14% | 3% | 12 |
| 4–8 May 2025 | Find Out Now[28] | Alex Wilson | 1,102 | 33% | 20% | 10% | 13% | 20% | 4% | 13 |
| 30 Oct – 11 Nov 2024 | Savanta[29] | QMUL[27] | 1,004 | 35% | 26% | 11% | 11% | 13% | 4% | 9 |
| 2 May 2024 | 2024 mayoral election[30] | – | 43.8% | 32.7% | 5.8% | 5.8% | 3.2% | 8.6% | 11.1 | |
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