Sadiq Khan appeared to sympathise with Tory mayoral candidate Susan Hall on Tuesday, after she admitted she did not know the price of a London bus fare. The Labour mayor said he did not think the “pub quiz” questions Ms Hall faced in an LBC interview on Monday were the best way of judging candidates, and that Londoners should instead focus on his opponent’s values. Ms Hall, a London Assembly member since 2017, told presenter Nick Ferrari that she doesn’t take buses, so doesn’t know the price of using one. She was also unable to say who owns Hammersmith Bridge, or what the starting salary is for a police officer in the capital.But asked about the interview on Monday, Mr Khan suggested he had some sympathy with his opponent, saying: “I think these sort of pub quiz questions aren’t the best test to see who’s the best candidate to be mayor. “What are their values? What are their past experiences? What’s their vision for our city? What do we know about the track record of their party nationally? All these are the sorts of issues that I’m hoping Londoners will look into.”
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00:00 You mentioned the cost of a bus fare. Were you surprised to hear your Conservative
00:04 opponent not being able to say what it was yesterday?
00:07 Well I've just been hearing from another journalist what she said yesterday in relation to an
00:12 interview. That's not the reason why I think she's out of touch with Londoners.
00:16 I've had the chance to share and hear some of her views on a variety of issues.
00:20 I think the choice that the next Morrill election is going to be between me or the
00:25 Conservative candidate. I say this with a huge amount of respect to friends of
00:28 mine who support the Green Party or the Lib Dems. Only two people can be the mayor.
00:31 That's the evidence for the last 24 years. The Tories either come first or second.
00:35 I'm really proud to have frozen fares, TfL fares, five of the last eight years to
00:41 provide free school meals for the first time in the history of our city.
00:44 We've seen record numbers of junior affordable homes invested in young people. The choice will be
00:47 a greener fare, a safer, more affordable one than with me or the Conservatives doing to
00:52 London what they've done to the rest of the country.
00:54 Do you think knowing the price of a bus fare is the sort of thing a mayoral candidate should know?
00:59 No, I think these sort of pop quiz questions are the best test to see who's the best candidate to be the mayor.
01:08 What are their values? What are their past experiences? What's their vision for our city?
01:14 What do we know about the track record of their party nationally?
01:18 All these are sorts of issues that I'm hoping Londoners will look into.
01:21 I will say this though in a respectful way to Londoners. The Conservative government
01:25 have moved the goalposts to make it easier for their candidate to win.
01:29 For the first time in the history of our city, they've introduced first-to-past-the-post
01:32 for mirror elections and they're also requiring photo ID. That means almost a million Londoners
01:38 who haven't got photo ID could be deprived their right to vote.
01:41 So I'm encouraging Londoners to get free photo ID by going to your local council, but make
01:45 sure you vote on May 2nd and if you want a greener fare and more safer London, let me your vote.
01:49 Thanks for watching.
01:50 [END]