The Mayor of London Sadiq Khan has today been knighted despite mammoth petitions to stop it happening. One currently has more than 220,000 signatures and nearly 30 have been rejected, as per the UK Parliament Petition website.

The 220,000-strong petition read: “Our once thriving capital is now divided and stagnant, and all under his watch. We’ve seen Khan continuously deflect responsibility and accountability, blaming everybody but himself. Our beloved city is in an expensive paralysis, consistently interrupted by strikes.”

It cited London’s crime rate, in particular knife crime, and the cost of living, including soaring rental costs and transport hikes.

It added: “This has left many Londoners in challenging living conditions, unable to afford the city they’ve called home for years.”

The Knighthood was announced on December 30 last year, among a number of politicians named in the New Year’s Honours list.

Conservative politicians criticised the move, including shadow home secretary Chris Philp who labelled it as a “reward for failure”.

Philp said under Sadiq Khan, Londoners have faced increased knife crime, a housing crisis and soaring council tax, and they will “rightly be furious his track record of failure is being rewarded”.

“By rewarding the failing Sadiq Khan, Keir Starmer has shown once again that for Labour it is Party first, country second,” he added.

London rents increased by an average of 32% in five years from 2019 to 2024, according to analysis of 286,939 samples by rental website SpareRoom.

However, Labour’s Foreign Secretary David Lammy congratulated Sir Sadiq on policies to make London’s air cleaner, build more council homes, and deliver free school meals.

Sir Sadiq said he expected the backlash from Conservatives, having told the PA news agency: “Unless they’ve done a New Year’s resolution, it won’t be the last time they criticise me.”