London Assembly committee argues the ad budget should be used more for public information campaigns and less on promoting the mayor’s own achievements, reports Kumail Jaffer, Local Democracy Reporter
Mayor of London Sir Sadiq Khan has been accused of spending £1.35million of taxpayer money on self-promotion rather than on information that Londoners need.
The Greater London Authority (GLA) has a substantial central marketing budget spent on “services and tools required to deliver effective marketing communications, digital communications and engagement campaigns”. The GLA’s public messaging includes use of advertising space on the Transport for London (TfL) network.
On Wednesday (2nd) City Hall officials told the London Assembly’s GLA oversight committee that such communications have helped people access support for homelessness, health, renters’ rights and Brexit-related queries.
They also said behavioural campaigns, such as moves to encourage men to call out misogyny, have had a positive impact on Londoners.
However, assembly members accused Khan of taking advantage of both the £1.35m budget and the complimentary space given by TfL to the GLA for advertising to promote his own achievements over information based campaigns.
This included a recent spate of 1,533 public transport posters, online ads and a one-day quarter page Metro print advert along with 53 digital screens to celebrate ten years of the mayor being in office.
“The mayor is sitting on an advertising goldmine across the TfL network, one capable of reaching millions of Londoners, yet there is barely any transparency over how he chooses to use it, and almost no opportunity for the assembly to make the case for important public information campaigns,” Hina Bokhari, a Liberal Democrat member of the committee, told the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS).
“Rather than filling that space with adverts for his own achievements, he should be using it for messages Londoners actually need to see, whether that’s the health risks of wood-burning stoves or how to charge e-bikes safely.”
Emma Best, the Conservative assembly member who chairs the committee, added: “Bizarrely, the GLA want us to believe that Londoners support the mayor spending their money on telling us how wonderful ‘ten years together’ have been.
“Next time you are delayed, waiting for a probably graffitied train on the network, remember this is how the mayor chooses to spend almost £1.5m instead of funding front line services.”
GLA officials said that City Hall preferred to be a “partner” on some issues, such as health, rather than the lead.
David Bellamy, the mayor’s chief of staff, said: “From a distance, I approach pure information campaigns with scepticism, where people are guilty of telling people what they want to tell them, rather than what they want to hear.
“That’s why the right thing is that the NHS should lead campaigns on health, for example, and we would support it as a partner, rather than just pushing out information.”
Nicole Valentinuzzi, director of external relations at the GLA, defended City Hall’s record on marketing and communications, saying millions have been supported in recent years.
She said: “Our communications have helped more than 61,000 people access homelessness support, connected 1.3m Londoners with Brexit related support and advice, helped Londoners access critical health guidance during Covid, and supported thousands of young Londoners with skills and employment programmes.
“Recently, despite a rapidly changing media environment, we have maintained a consistently high level of awareness for mayoral policies; 70% of Londoners are aware of this work, including ongoing communication and around renters’ rights which has reached an audience of 1.7m and driven 35,000 Londoners to our rogue landlord checker.”
She cited two campaigns encouraging men to call out misogyny – popularly known as ‘Have a Word’ and ‘Maaate’ – as examples of how their marketing has led to “favourable behaviour change”.
“Among 18 to 34-year-old men in London, they moved from being the least to most likely group to intervene in instances of misogyny,” she added. “85% of those who saw the campaign said they would call out misogynistic behaviour if they see it.”
She also said that the £350,000 marketing budget uplift agreed in April was justified as it helped communicate City Hall’s policies and decisions more effectively to voters.
“There is a genuine desire to know what is being done on behalf of taxpayers’ money,” Valentinuzzi said.
“They want to know what the people they have elected are doing, especially when there has been a decline in trust in institutions and public figures. This type of communication is very important.
“New platforms including TikTok, Threads, BlueSky, Reddit, NextDoor and WhatsApp are ones we engage with regularly. Maintaining an effective presence across these channels requires an increased capacity to create, publish and optimise content.”
She confirmed the mayor’s social audience has grown from 5.3m in February 2024 to over 7m across all platforms, as well as tripling post engagement since 2020.
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