London mayoral election: Sadiq Khan pledges to name 'bad' landlords

Labour's mayoral candidate Sadiq Khan announced a number of measures aimed at protecting private renters as he launched his election manifesto.

The Tooting MP promised to "name and shame" landlords who had been convicted of housing-related offences.

He claimed an "entire generation" of private tenants had been "failed by the Tories".

Conservative candidate Zac Goldsmith said Mr Khan's plans "don't survive even the gentlest scrutiny".

He was introduced at the manifesto launch in Canary Wharf by Baroness Jowell, whom he beat to win the candidacy last summer.

He outlined plans for an online database listing landlords who had been successfully prosecuted for housing- related offences, saying it would empower tenants to check out landlords before they moved into a property.

Baroness Jowell spoke of the need for the campaign to be "a love song to London"

He also promised:

• a new London-wide not-for-profit letting agency

• more high-quality homes for private renters - including affordable homes on mayoral land to part-buy, part-rent

• to use City Hall as a platform to attract investment in "build-to-rent" homes.

'Four-year experiment'

Mr Khan told the audience: "I had to live in a bunk-bed at my parents' house well into my 20s while I saved a deposit to buy my first home, but it is so much harder for young Londoners today.

"An entire generation of Londoners have been failed by the Tories' point-blank refusal to do anything to help the two million Londoners who rent in the private sector."

Pledges already announced include a fare freeze until 2020 and building a minimum of 80,000 new homes a year.

Mr Goldsmith responded: "With a £1.9 billion black hole at the heart of his programme he can't deliver any of the improvements London needs."

He added: "This isn't a manifesto, it's fantasy politics from a politician more interested in scoring points than solving problems, a promise of a four-year experiment for Jeremy Corbyn whose consequences London cannot afford."

Speaking earlier on BBC Radio London, Mr Khan said that some tweets posted by one of his parliamentary aides in 2012 were "shocking" and had no place in politics.

Mr Khan had been accused of a failure of judgment in employing Shueb Salar two years after he allegedly wrote offensive comments about women and gay people.

But the Labour candidate insisted he had followed best practice in employing the assistant, who has now resigned.