Farage unveils London mayoral candidate to take on Khan

Farage unveils London mayoral candidate to take on Khan Daily Telegraph 07 January 2026 12:14pm GMT Reform UK has vowed to oust Sir Sadiq Khan by promising an “all-out war” on crime in London.

Nigel Farage unveiled Laila Cunningham, a former public prosecutor, as the party’s candidate for the next London mayoral elections in 2028. She told a press conference on Wednesday morning that safety for Londoners was the first duty of the mayor, and that if elected she would bring in more visible policing and zero tolerance for criminal behaviour. “There’ll be a new sheriff in town and I’ll be launching an all-out war on crime,” she declared. Mrs Cunningham, a Reform UK councillor and mother of seven, defected to the party from the Tories last year, warning of an epidemic of knife crime in the capital. She also vowed to scrap London’s controversial Ultra Low Emissions Zone (Ulez) and automate Tube trains to stop its drivers going on strike. And she called on Sir Mark Rowley, the Metropolitan Police Commissioner, to resign, claiming that he had failed to protect women and girls from grooming gangs. The new candidate said: “Safety for Londoners is the first duty for any mayor and it will be my first duty as mayor of London. “And that means visible policing, zero, and I mean zero, tolerance for crime, real consequences… “I will set clear high-level priorities on the Met to focus on tackling knife crime, drugs, robbery, shoplifting, rape, and I will task the Met Police with targeting, hunting and prosecuting rape gangs in London. There will be nowhere for them to hide. “And as mayor I will ensure there is a serious reckoning for those who have failed those victims and those who have failed this city.” Mrs Cunningham said that “for the first time in years, Londoners finally have a real alternative” in Reform UK. She said criminals were “ignored” and victims “sacrificed” in Sir Sadiq’s London, and added that she had spoken to so many women who did not feel safe. “Londoners like me have lost faith in the law,” she said. “The social contract and the state has failed in its first duty to keep us safe. “This is the London that Sadiq Khan has created, a city where criminals operate freely, where victims are sacrificed, ignored, people are scared and Khan thinks it’s enough to tweet platitudes, random stats.” Mrs Cunningham said she would automate Transport for London “train by train” if needed to stop the strikes. “Time and time again London has been held to ransom because the Mayor won’t stand up to his union paymasters,” she said. “He serves them before he serves us, and under me, that ends. “And if it means automating the trains that’s exactly what I’ll do, train by train.”