Scare tactics used in mayoral election - Green Party

The outgoing Green Party London Assembly member Siân Berry has accused Sadiq Khan of running a "scare" campaign during the mayoral election.

This year's contest saw the voting system changed to first past the post rather than voters choosing a first and second preference.

During the campaign, Mr Khan, for Labour, called for Green Party voters to "lend" him their vote, claiming the voting system made it a two-horse race between him and the Conservative candidate, Susan Hall.

Ms Berry criticised this, accusing Mr Khan of "really playing on the new voting system" and on "fear of the Conservatives, instead of running a more positive campaign with more new ideas for Londoners".

A spokesperson Mr Khan did not directly answer Ms Berry's claim but thanked her for her work as a London Assembly member.

Speaking to BBC Radio London, Ms Berry, a former co-leader of the Green Party, said: “I think it’s a real shame that the way that Sadiq Khan ran this election seems to have been to have run a bit of a scare campaign.”

She also criticised both Mr Khan and Ms Hall for not having faced more public scrutiny during the 2024 campaign, which saw them both only attend one hustings event and three debates, including a BBC One debate , alongside the other main candidates.

“Sadiq Khan and Susan Hall basically didn’t do very much campaigning at all," she said.

"There were campaign groups all over London cancelling events to hold their elected candidates to account because Sadiq Khan and Susan Hall were not turning up to them.”

Ms Berry was speaking to BBC News for the first time since she announced on 7 May she was leaving London politics to focus on her General Election campaign for the parliamentary seat of Brighton Pavilion, where the Green Party’s only MP, Caroline Lucas, is stepping down.

Ms Berry had previously run for London mayor in 2008, 2016 and 2021.

The Green Party’s London mayoral candidate for 2024, Zoe Garbett, came fourth in the mayoral vote, while the Green Party took third place in the London Assembly vote, holding on to its three seats – but failing to pick up the fourth seat it had hoped for.

Ms Garbett took Ms Berry’s place on the London Assembly last week after Ms Berry decided to step down.

There was some confusion as to why Ms Berry stood aside just days after being awarded the post.

She said she had been required by the Greater London Authority to accept the post before she could step down, because she had been first on the Green Party’s list of London-wide candidates.

“I was told that I couldn’t step aside legally before the results were formally announced, so we had to wait until the first working day afterwards," she said.

"I lament that it seems a little messy, but it was a smooth transition from within our team.”

Reflecting on her time on the Assembly, Ms Berry said: “A lot of the things that he [Sadiq Khan] was talking about in the election – his funding for youth services, his support for rent controls – these are things that I and the London Assembly pushed him into doing.

"These were positions he didn’t hold back in 2016, but are positions that he’s now running on, so we are having a positive influence on his policies.”

A spokesperson for Mr Khan said: “The mayor thanks Siân Berry for her hard work and service to Londoners as a much-valued member of the London Assembly”.

The Conservative Party said it would not comment on Ms Berry’s remarks.