Labour backs Gavron for London mayor

Ken Livingstone's chances of being re-elected Mayor of London in 2004 received a boost yesterday when Nicky Gavron was selected as Labour's candidate for the post.

Mrs Gavron, the Deputy Mayor, beat Tony Banks, a former sports minister, by 52 per cent to 44 in a ballot of Labour Party members, trade unions and other affiliates.

She immediately repeated her recommendation that Londoners should vote for Labour with their first preference but for the incumbent with their second. The "Labour 1, Livingstone 2" message was a centrepiece of Mrs Gavron's campaign and was in stark contrast to Mr Banks' pledge never to give any backing to the former GLC leader. Many at Labour's headquarters are wary of giving any recommendation to Mr Livingstone, who was blocked from the selection process in 2000. But Mrs Gavron said yesterday: "It's up to voters what they do. I shall go on recommending [one-two on the ballot paper].

She said she would focus on the environment, tackling child poverty and concentrating on the suburbs of London.

"The missing piece of the jigsaw is a Labour mayor. I could work with the Government to lever in the resources London needs. I will be a mayor for the whole of London ­ not a zone-one mayor," she said.

She pledged an extra £100m for bus services but insisted she would strongly back Mr Livingstone's £5-a-day congestion charge, due to come into force in February.

Mrs Gavron has long backed the idea of such a charge and stressed it was "Labour policy".

Mrs Gavron said she wanted all Labour supporters to back her. Among her more radical policies are plans for express bus routes and free travel for children at the beginning and end of the school day to cut congestion.

Mr Livingstone welcomed her selection with a dig at suggestions that Mr Banks would have turned the campaign into an "anti-Ken" election. "This result means that London Labour Party members have recognised that the main enemies of public services in London are the Tories," he said.

Diane Abbott, Labour MP for Hackney North and Stoke Newington, who backed Mrs Gavron, said: "She would be the first to admit that she couldn't have won without the support of Ken Livingstone.

"What her victory proves is that three years after he was expelled from the party, Ken Livingstone and the politics he represents still dominate the Labour Party in London."