Susan Hall recognizes the scale of the problem she faces. Photo: David Rose for The Telegraph/David Rose for The Telegraph
Susan Hall has installed a digital countdown clock next to the kettle in the kitchen, showing the days, hours, minutes and seconds until polling day in the London mayoral election.
< p>Every morning, rising early, the Conservative mayoral candidate makes himself a cup of tea and looks at his watch. She tells The Telegraph she has the same thought every time: «One less day to save London!»
With just a week and a half left in the race, Ms Hall knows that she has everything she needs to do. deny Sadiq Khan an unprecedented third term as mayor.
A YouGov poll on Friday showed her trailing her Labor opponent by 19 points, with 27 per cent of the vote to Mr Khan's 46 per cent.
Ms Hall acknowledges the scale of the problem. “Look, I’m an outsider,” she says. “There is no doubt, I accept without reservation that I am an outsider.” But she hopes Londoners' dissatisfaction with Mr Khan's «horrible» record could be the cause of all the political upheaval.
«I just hope that the people who want my policies want to end the war on motorists, actually want us to be safer… I hope they think, 'Yes, we have a chance to get Sadiq Khan out.'
Ms Hall meets The Telegraph for an interview in a Westminster pub but, with her eyes on the electoral prize and busy campaign days ahead, she orders a Diet Coke. She abstained from alcohol throughout the election campaign, but will allow herself to drink after the polls close.
In laying out the horizon of what London will be like in four years' time if she wins on May 2, it is perhaps unsurprising that Ms Hall starts with motorists.
Sadiq Khan looks set to win another term. Photo: Holly Adams/Reuters
Tory strategists see the Ultra-Low Emission Zone (ULEZ) as Mr Khan's weak point since he controversially extended the charging zone to the outskirts of London in August.
Ms Hall says four years from now the Ulez expansion will be a «bad memory» because she will stop it «on day one». She believes that not expanding will have a revitalizing effect. “Small businesses on the outskirts of London will start to thrive again… people will start returning across the border… the war on motorists will end.” Needless to say, charging drivers per mile — a conspiracy she accused Mr. Khan of despite vehemently denying — will never see the light of day.
Ms Hall said she had heard «heartbreaking» stories of Ulez's victims. “Poor people are really suffering because of this… seriously, if you saw some of the letters I receive, you would literally cry.” During a campaign stop at Romford market on the morning, she told «three elderly ladies» about the scheme. «They said it was terrible because their family couldn't come and visit them anymore… their kids couldn't afford to keep coming and going from London because it cost £12.50 a shot.»
< p>The Tory candidate also plans to highlight changes to London's transport policy by removing «floating bus stops» where pedestrians must cross cycle lanes to get to a stop, which she says forces blind and partially sighted people to take «their lives in your hands.» » And she wants to tighten controls on low-traffic areas (LTNs). “I’ve always said that a successful city is a moving city,” she says. «We have to get London moving again.»
Moving on her own, the next stop on her tour of London in 2028, led by Mayor Hall, takes us to crime.
Ms Hall says that although she is often seen as obsessed with Ulez, her «great passion in life» is policing. It promises a return to neighborhood policing with two more bases in each council area, as well as 1,500 extra officers on the streets and a £200m cash injection for the Met. A huge focus will be placed on the experiences of women in the capital, who she said “simply don’t feel safe”, following the appointment of a special commissioner for women. She says fears over crime have helped destroy the capital's nightlife, which is now «really bad». “All the changes I see now under Sadiq Khan break my heart because people don’t feel safe. Young people are being killed on our streets: there have been more than 1,000 murders since he has been in power.”
Again, she paints a picture of London coming back to life after the Khan years. “After four years, I want people to say, 'Oh my God, yes, I feel safer'… If we make our streets safer, that will have a positive impact. It's like a stone in a pond, isn't it? This will resonate everywhere.
“I hope that after four years people will think things will be fairer because they won't be taxed heavily for driving. I hope people don't actually feel oppressed like they do now. But most of all, I want moms and dads to be happy when their kids go outside at night because they know they're safer.»
On planning — the third major area under the mayor's control — Ms Hall clashed with her Labor Party rival over housing statistics. In the last quarter of 2023, the number of new homes in London fell to a record low. «He'll say he's going to build tens of thousands of houses or properties, one- and two-bedroom apartments,» she says. «He will not. He will not build family houses.”
Mr Khan's supporters accused Ms Hall of criticizing London, pointing for example to an attack ad which portrayed the capital as a crime-riddled metropolis like Gotham. But she insists people will be «desperate» if he wins a third term.
“If you look at his policies, what changes in policing will make a difference? There is none. Where are the changes that will get London moving again? There is none. It's going to be a dead end… I don't care if people like me or not, but if four years from now they say, «Oh my God, she really made a difference,» that's the only thing I can do. I want.”
The campaign has been acrimonious at times, with Mr Khan accusing her of being a «Trumpian». “He throws out a lot of personal insults,” she says. “Continue if you want because it makes him look pathetic… Do they really have a political argument against me rather than trying to attack me personally?… He should stand his ground. But his record is so terrible that he can't do it.»
A YouGov poll on Friday found that Susan Hall was 19 points behind her Labor Party opponent. Photo: David Rose for The Telegraph/David Rose for The Telegraph
As for Donald Trump, with whom Mr Khan has feuded on social media, Ms Hall says she would be willing to work with him if he were re-elected. “I will work with whoever the American people decide to be their president,” she says. “It’s not up to the mayor of London to decide whether he likes the leader of the world’s largest democracy or not. I don't know if [Mr Khan] thought it would make him more popular or not, it's inappropriate… It makes me very angry because he's getting involved in other things and you know why? Because everything goes wrong in London.”
In her barbs at Mr Khan, she claims he used the mayor's post as a «stepping stone to something else». I think he thought he would become leader of the Labor Party. But they saw the disaster he had created in London and missed the opportunity.”
As the days run out, Ms. Hall is honest about her strengths and weaknesses. “I won’t say the right words. I can make mistakes. I'm not perfect, she says. “But I care, I genuinely care. And I want to make a difference in London.»
Above all, she says there will be a shift in accountability if she is elected.
«If you listen to Khan over the years, his rhetoric everywhere… “it's the government's fault,” she fumes.
“If you're responsible for something, good or bad, when something goes wrong, damn it, take it upon yourself. chin… you can't just go through life blaming everyone else.»
Whatever the outcome on May 2, it is unlikely that Ms Hall will try to shirk responsibility.
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