Labour’s London Mayor Sadiq Khan has been on the receiving end of criticism from a Green Party politician in the capital – and indirectly from activist groups too.

Khan had been a long-standing supporter of rent controls, frequently asking former Conservative governments for the power to implement them over the private rental sector in London. However, he appears to have gone quiet on the issue since party leader and now Prime Minister Sir Kier Starmer voiced his opposition to outright rent controls.

Now Zoë Garbett, a Green Party member of the London Assembly, is to host what she calls “London’s first Rent Commission” next month.

In a statement Garbett says: “In 2019, Mayor Sadiq Khan said London needed a ‘rent commission’ to help implement a system of rent controls. Five years later, no such commission exists. Recognising the urgency of London’s housing crisis, Zoë Garbett will bring together renters, renters’ unions, community groups, campaigners, think tanks and academics to discuss what a workable rent control could look like in London.”

She says the group of attendees will be referred to as the London Rent Commission, which she describes as “a shadow exercise in providing proof-of-concept for one of the Mayor’s unfulfilled campaign promises.”

Activist groups already known to support rent controls will be taking part, including Shelter, Generation Rent, New Economics Foundation, Acorn, and the London Renters Union.