London Mayoral election: What do voters care about?

In just a few weeks Londoners will get the chance to vote for who they'd like to be Mayor of London for the next four years.

What do Londoners think are the most important issues facing them and the capital this year? Which candidate will resonate with them most?, and if they're planning to vote what impact could that have on the results?

BBC Politics London went to one of the capital's oldest markets in Soho, central London to ask traders about what they wanted to see before polling day on 2 May.

Robin Smith from Soho Dairy said as a business owner the key question candidates need to answer was "who's going to do the most to reinvigorate the West End economy?".

"Work from home has decimated the West End - whereas before Covid we might see 10,000 people coming through in the mornings, we now get 10," he said.

Another market trader said: "I care about the interest rates, if they can drop down a little bit so normal people like us over here can afford to buy a house or have a little bit more normal life, afford a little bit more holidays."

One woman trading at the market said politicians' views on Low Traffic Neighbourhoods and similar measures matter to her.

"We can't get access to our houses, we have to go round and round in circles before we can get to our home," she said.

London MPs Felicity Buchan and Rushanara Ali believe their respective candidates provide a clear choice for voters.

Ms Buchan, Conservative MP for Kensington in west London, said her party is "well positioned" going into the election and she believes current mayor Sadiq Khan's record shows "he has underperformed in London" on housing, transport, and on reforming the city's police and fire services.

"We are fighting on the issues, we are not fighting on personalities," she said.

However Ms Ali, Labour MP for Bethnal Green and Bow in east London, said Conservative London mayoral candidate Susan Hall has been "seeking to divide the city, does not respect the strength in our diversity; she is a passionate supporter of the Trump presidency."

She said Sadiq Khan has worked "tirelessly" to deliver on housing, transport and emergency services policies and had "unified the city".

The centre of London is overwhelmingly Labour in terms of MPs and local councils, with only a handful of exceptions - but the Conservatives enjoy stronger representation in outer London.

"Groups that would perhaps traditionally lean Conservative are more likely to turn out," Dr Jack Brown from King's College London said, adding "like in national elections, older voters tend to turn out slightly more [and] they tend to be concentrated more in outer London".

"Turnout for the mayoral elections tends to be about 40% so actually the majority of voters don't turn up at all," he continued.

So what can voters do to change the conversation and make sure the election makes a difference?

Crossbench peer Lord Woolley, founder and former member of non-profit campaign group Operation Black Vote, said it was "important" for Londoners to exercise their right to vote when certain factions "seek to pit one community against another community" in the capital.

He stressed if politicians and community leaders "push back on the divide and rule" it can also "give hope to a lot of people - particularly those young people who are saying they don't belong, they're not listened to, they're demonised".

You can watch Politics London in full on Sunday on BBC One, or on BBC iPlayer.

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