The former Conservative mayoral candidate said she wanted to throw the Labour mayor into a black hole, reports Noah Vickers, Local Vickers, Local Democracy Reporter

Susan Hall and Sadiq Khan on LBC — Susan Hall and Sadiq Khan

There was no love lost at City Hall on Thursday as former Tory mayoral candidate Susan Hall said she would “love to throw” Sir Sadiq Khan into a black hole.

The comment came as the mayor remarked on the “£22bn black hole” identified by Chancellor Rachel Reeves in the UK’s public finances, as he argued that the legacy of the previous Conservative government had left the new Labour administration with tough choices.

Speaking at a London Assembly meeting, Hall asked the mayor if he would “like to say sorry” to businesses across the capital being forced to “lay off staff” because of Reeves’ hike in employers’ national insurance contributions.

“I can’t run away from the fact that one of the inheritances of the new government is a black hole to the tune of £22bn,” said Khan. “There’s two ways to fill a black hole.”

As he spoke, Hall could be heard murmuring into her microphone: “I’d love to throw him in it.”

Apparently not registering the comment, the mayor continued: “You either raise more revenues, or you make cuts, and what the Government’s got to do is both of those things, to make the books balanced.”

The row began after Khan claimed that his Tory predecessor Boris Johnson’s decision to slash his share of council tax bills had played a significant role in the Metropolitan Police now being in a position where it is preparing to cut officer numbers.

Over his eight years as mayor between 2008 and 2016, Johnson reduced the mayoral ‘precept’ of Londoners’ council tax bills by 11%. By contrast, as he enters his ninth year as mayor, Khan has increased the precept by 78%.

“The previous mayor didn’t raise council tax for the police [element of the mayoral] precept. We are about £500m worse off because of the previous mayor’s decision,” said Khan. “What I’ve done is use the levers at my disposal,” he added.

Hall later castigated the mayor over this claim, saying: “You’ve got to stop going on about things that happened nearly nine years ago, mister mayor, and start taking responsibility.”

She pointed out that Khan has often opted to freeze tube or bus fares during his time in office, which she said had deprived Transport for London (TfL) of revenue it would otherwise be receiving. “You freeze fares – if you hadn’t done that, there’d be an extra £1bn in TfL,” she said.

The mayor responded by saying that fares under Johnson’s mayoralty went up by 42%.

“Since I’ve been mayor, compared to inflation, they’re 21% less,” said Khan. “On buses, they’re 23% less than they would be if they went up by just inflation. God knows what they’d have gone up by if, heaven forbid, Boris Johnson was [still] mayor.”

Hall retorted: “Well, he’d be doing a better job than you are, mister mayor.”

Her party colleague, Alex Georgiou, said that trains in use across parts of the underground are in a “crippled” condition due to the lack of extra revenue from the fares freezes.

Khan replied: “The fares freeze between 2016 and 2021 was paid for by efficiencies [within TfL]. The fares freeze since [in 2024/25] was paid for by City Hall – we give TfL, every year, money towards that, which supports hard-working families in London, including businesses.

“This idea that you punish fare-payers by increasing – every year, above inflation – fares, like Boris Johnson did, as a ‘good thing’, doesn’t work. Because we’ve seen across the country, passenger numbers going down on public transport – in London, on buses, they’ve gone up.”

The assembly will debate the mayor’s upcoming budget for a final time at a meeting on Tuesday, 25th February.

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