What do the following 4 years actually appear to be beneath Sadiq Khan?

The capital is facing another four years of ‘Khanage’ after Sadiq Khan romped to victory in the London mayoral elections over the weekend.

The 53-year-old Labour politician promised Londoners he will make the city a ‘safer, fairer, greener’ place to live, and creating 150,000 new jobs over the next four years.

But at a closer glance his election manifesto vows to hire 500 PCSOs who have no arrest powers to fight spiralling crime in lawless London – with one of Britain’s leading knife crime campaigners accusing the mayor of ‘smoke and mirrors’ politics.

He also vowed to install thousands of extra charging points for electric vehicles, despite only a tiny fraction of people living in the city owning e-cars. 

Mr Khan, who won a historic third term on Saturday, also touted a number of vanity projects to seemingly whet the appetites of voters at the 11th hour.

Among them included bombastic claims of bringing the American Superbowl and more WrestleMania events to the city.

Just days before residents went to the polls, Mr Khan posted to his 1.1million followers on X – formerly Twitter: ‘London is already the sporting capital of the world. If I’m re-elected next Thursday – we’ll go even further. 

‘We’ll look to bring WrestleMania, Superbowl and the NBA to London, and put together another bid for the 2040 Olympics.’

London has hosted NFL American football games every year since 2007 – but the Super Bowl has never been staged outside the United States, raising question marks over whether or not it could ever happen. 

NFL chief Roger Goodell said in February that he hoped to make the famed American sporting league ‘global’ in the next decade.

However, it’s uncertain just how London would ever play a part in the crown jewel of the American sporting calendar. 

In another bid to woo voters, Mr Khan pledged he would seek to hire 1,300 more neighbourhood police officers, special constables and PCSOs.

Made as one of his top 10 manifesto priorities, his promise comes after months of fierce criticism over his record of tackling knife crime in the capital. 

Official figures published a week from polling day revealed knife crime offences in the capital had surged 20 per cent in the last year – while over the course of his eight years in charge, the increase was greater still.

Then 48 hours before voters hit the polls, there was widespread shock and revulsion at the death of 14-year-old Daniel Anjorin – who was killed in a sword attack in Hainault.

Mr Khan says he would ‘work with a Labour Government’ on boosting policing numbers – as he committed to recruit 500 PCSOs. 

But former police officer Norman Brennan has blasted the mayor’s scheme, raging  that the blood-soaked streets of the capital under Mr Khan’s leadership had descended into ‘anarchy’. 

‘This is all smoke and mirrors and window dressing,’ said the veteran cop – who was once stabbed in the chest while trying to catch a burglar. 

‘Khan‘s “eastern promise” since he was elected eight years ago was that he’d tackle this. Since then he has had the worst record of knife crime than any London mayor.

‘You’re on the brink of anarchy. Many people won’t travel to London because of the knife crime, and through fear of being stabbed or mugged… Nothing’s going to change.’

And there is concern in some quarters that hiring additional PCSOs, who have limited powers and cannot arrest suspects, won’t tackle the knife crime epidemic plaguing the city. 

‘PCSOs have no f***ing power,’ Mr Brennan added. ‘They haven’t got the power to stop and search and if they do, they’re often open to ridicule and abuse.’

Meanwhile, justice campaigners have signalled fears over the huge volume of armed police quitting from the Metropolitan Police since one firearms cop was charged with the murder of Chris Kaba, who was fatally shot by police last year. 

In the space of just six months, the numbers carrying weapons dropped by more than 250 between April and December 2023 amid widespread anger within the force over resourcing and disciplinary procedures.

Only 22 armed officers left in the 12-month period leading up to March 2023.

In his manifesto, Mr Khan blamed cuts by the Tory government for creating the crisis, saying the city had been ‘held back’ by the Conservatives in Westminster. 

‘The national cuts since 2010 have been a disaster for combatting crime across the country, particularly youth violence,’ he said.

‘The Tories have cut £1bn from the Met police and £1bn a year from youth services nationally in real terms since 2010, which has had a devastating impact on the vital support needed to keep communities safe.’

Among other flagship pledges Mr Khan hopes to offer over the next four years includes a fresh commitment to build 40,000 new council homes by the end of the decade – note, not the end of the next four-year mayoral term.

A similar pledge he made in 2016, to build 116,000 new homes by 2022, has yet to be met, with just 61,755 properties under this scheme having been completed by the end of last year. 

The remaining 60,000 homes under the mayor’s Affordable Homes Programme, are expected to be completed by 2029 – casting fresh doubts over when the properties in his 2024 election pledge will be completed. 

Mr Khan has also dropped his commitment to protect the green belt from his manifesto, despite promising to create a ‘greener London for everyone’.

It is the first time the mayor did not include a commitment to oppose building on green belt land in his election promise document.

And in a bold claim as part of his housing ambitions, Mr Khan vowed to end rough sleeping in the capital by 2030. 

Under his watch, the problem has ballooned to staggering new highs, with 4,389 people sleeping on the streets at the end of 2023. 

Meanwhile, fresh figures released last week by homelessness charity St Mungo’s, showed that between 4,118 people were recorded as rough sleeping between January to March 2024, an increase of 33 per cent on the same period last year. 

Mr Khan blamed the Tories in Westminster for the situation, accusing ministers of ‘turning a blind eye to the scale of this national crisis’ and claiming the ‘hostile approach to refugees has meant that hundreds of people are becoming homeless or sleeping rough on our streets’. 

Elsewhere, he said he would work to make universal free school meals ‘permanent’ for all state school children. 

The Government already funds free school lunches for the majority of pupils in primary schools but Mr Khan’s extension of this to seven-to-11-year-olds not currently entitled for the next four years is expected to cost well over £1billion.

The mayor also aims to deliver the new £40million home for The London Museum, earmarked to open at its Smithfield site, near the city centre, in 2026. 

However, it’s unlikely there will be further developments to the ULEZ, following widespread protest in streets over the expansion of the eco-levy zone, which has even seen campaigners vandalising scores of cameras used to police the scheme. 

And any plans for a ‘pay-per-mile’ hit on motorists as part of a revamped system to target road users and slash emissions, also appear to have gone up in smoke. 

Following fierce criticism from his Tory rivals, who claimed he had been secretly drawing up proposals for such a scheme, Mr Khan was forced into action and told Transport for London (TfL) to stop all work on it – as he went to explicitly rule it out of his manifesto. 

But that hasn’t prevented the Labour mayor from seeker to boost London’s green credentials, by overhauling the city’s e-charging facilities for electric cars. 

He has vowed to double the number of e-vehicle charging points to 40,000 – despite Department for Transport figures showing that only 91,572 city residents had battery or hybrid-powered motors in 2023. 

In his aims to overhaul the capital’s transport offerings, the Labour politician has also pledged to freeze TFL fares and a bus fleet containing only zero-emission vehicles.

And in a boost for security, Mr Khan will also continue with his rollout of CCTV across the city, installing more recording devices on the Bakerloo Line, in bus shelters and in black cabs and taxis. 

Currently the city has about 77,000 cameras covering its transport network. 

Elsewhere, Mr Khan remains committed to finally solving the Hammersmith bridge fiasco.

The route has been shut to motorists and buses for five years while restoration work is carried out. 

But the project has been a disaster, with costs skyrocketing to £300million, the Standard reports. 

Mr Khan insists he is committed to finally getting the bridge re-opened and has argued the Government needs to stump up the cash to final finish the upgrades. 

City Hall has been contacted for comment.