Sian Berry has been announced as the Green Party candidate to challenge Sadiq Khan in the London mayoral elections in 2020.

Ms Berry, a Camden councillor and London Assembly Member, came fourth in the 2008 mayoral elections and third in the 2016 Mayoral race.

She will join Conservative Assembly Member and former youth worker will Shaun Bailey and Liberal Democrat Siobhan Benita in trying to unseat Labour’s Sadiq Khan.

Tackling the housing crisis is central to Ms Berry’s 2020 election campaign.

She has pledged to create a ‘people’s land bank’ to empower communities in the capital to find empty buildings and land and chose how to bring them back to use.

Ms Berry said: “We need a greater focus on housing and climate change. We want to get people really involved and put the community at the heart of solving the housing crisis.

“We need to put housing where buildings already exist, such as in empty garages, depots and car parks instead of demolishing existing buildings to create new housing.

“Climate change has been raised by politicians with a lot of ‘warm words’, but more than ever we can hold them to account and people who care about climate change trust us to deliver on it.”

As well as competing against Sadiq Khan in the last mayoral elections she also ran to be mayor in 2008 – in which she was unsuccessful.

Ms Berry added: “I already have experience in two mayoral campaigns and I think in 2020 I am well placed to do better than ever before. I am ready to be mayor.”

As well as announcing their candidates for the 2020 mayoral elections the party also announced who would be running to be member of the London Assembly – as London-wide candidates.

Ms Berry got the most votes and will be also running to be a member of the Assembly.

This was followed by current Assembly Member Caroline Russell, then Zack Polanski with the third highest number of votes.

Other candidates who were selected are:

  • Benali Hamdache
  • Gulnar Hasnain
  • Dr Shahrar Ali
  • Rosamund Adoo-Kissi-Debrah
  • Ben Fletcher
  • Scott Ainslie
  • Hannah Graham
  • Peter Underwood

Ms Russell said: “It’s really great to have such a diverse group of people standing for the party and I am really hopeful that we can grow the size of the party.”

Mr Polanski said if he were elected as an Assembly Member his top priorities would be tackling homelessness and climate change and would bring “energy and dynamisn” to the job.

He said: “More than anything I want to demonstrate that politicians can be reliable and we can have an effect on people’s lives.”