'Sadiq Khan is doing a bad job' say nearly half of Londoners in poll

Sadiq Khan's approval ratings have fallen into negative territory for the first time since he became Mayor of London in 2016.

A new poll by YouGov has revealed that 48 per cent of Londoners think that Sadiq Khan is doing badly.

The survey showed that a quarter of adults in the capital think that Mr Khan is doing very badly, with only 38 per cent saying that they think he is doing well - seven percentage points less than in March 2021 when YouGov last conducted a survey on the mayor’s performance.

It is the first time the London Mayor has fallen into negative territory as the poll results in a net approval rating of minus ten according to YouGov's tracker.

In outer London, YouGov’s survey found that over half of adults - 51 per cent - believed Mr Khan was doing badly compared to 43 per cent in inner London.

The Mayor's approval rating was lowest with over 65s, with 56 per cent of people saying he was doing badly.

18-24 year olds were most supportive towards Mr Khan with only 37 per cent saying they think he was doing badly.

This comes after the London Mayor faces demands to tackle youth knife crime in the capital after 30 teenagers were murdered in 2021, despite his supporters arguing that incidents of overall knife crime, gun crime, burglaries and homicides are decreasing

Mr Khan has also faced criticism for his transport policies, warning Transport for London passengers due to a lack of funding - partially caused by a revenue drop during the Covid pandemic - Tube and bus services may have to be cut.

Abigail Axe-Browne, research manager at YouGov, said: “Almost a year into his second term as Mayor of London, and for the first time since YouGov started asking in 2017, more Londoners think Sadiq Khan is doing badly than well.

“While he is retaining support amongst 2019 Labour voters, his scores have declined notably among them over the past year.

“On three key areas he has responsibility for – crime, housing and transport – more Londoners think he is performing badly than believe he is performing well. Perhaps more damaging for the Mayor is the fact 2019 Labour voters also tend to disapprove of his handling of housing and crime.”

A London Labour source told the Evening Standard: “Sadiq was overwhelmingly re-elected nine months ago and is getting on with the job of delivering a greener, safer, fairer city for all Londoners.”

Sadiq Khan garnered his highest approval rating in May 2017 when 61 per cent of Londoners said Mr Khan was doing a good job.