Violent crime is the number one concern among London’s voters – that’s according to new independent research conducted among more than 2,000 adults across the capital’s 32 boroughs.

With just over two months until the London mayoral elections on May 6, over half (54.1%) of those quizzed named violent crime as the biggest worry.

Asked ‘when you vote for London mayor what are your biggest concerns?’, the second most popular answer was affordable housing to rent, highlighted by 43.7% of voters, followed by public transport provision and costs (42.5%), affordable housing to buy (also 42.5%) and pollution and environment (40.8%) [Top 10 answers list below].

Independent candidate and London mayor second-favourite Brian Rose, who commissioned the independent research, said: ‘It speaks volumes that five years after Sadiq Khan became mayor of London, violent crime is the number one concern for the majority of voters right across the capital.’

The independent research also reveals:

–        Violent crime is more of a worry among female voters than males, with 56.3% of women naming it a major concern versus 52% of men, while boroughs where it came top of the list are Redbridge, where 71.1% identified it, Hillingdon (69.4%) and Wandsworth (65.3%)

–        Across age groups, violent crime is more of a concern among London’s 18-24 year olds (46.6%) than among the next, 25-34 year old age group (41.4%), while it’s most likely to be a worry in the 45-54 year age group (63.9%)

–        Elsewhere across London, affordable housing to rent is the biggest concern in Hackney (61.2%), Merton (60.2%), Islington (59.6%), Camden (58.6%), Kingston Upon Thames (56.8%), Haringey (56.6%) and Lambeth (54.2%), while affordable housing to buy is the biggest concern in Kensington and Chelsea (63.2%)

–        Pollution and environment is the biggest concern in Greenwich, identified by 55.2%

Q: When you vote for London mayor what are your biggest concerns?’

Rose, a New York-born ex-Wall Street banker who’s lived in London for 20 years, recently undertook a 22-day tour of all 32 London boroughs in what he describes as the world’s first Covid-secure, fully digital battle bus – complete with on-board TV studio facilities for live streaming.

The tour covered 2,028 miles, and resulted in 3.5 million unique visitors to the Digital Battle Bus Tour site, of which 65% are from the Greater London area.

At the start of the tour, Rose and members of the campaign team were stopped and fined £200 each by police on the streets of Southwark, who told them “campaigning was not a necessary reason” for being out – prompting him to call for elections to be declared postal-vote only.  A video of the incident has since been viewed on social media platforms nearly one million times.