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Tory mayoral candidate Shaun Bailey is calling on Sadiq Khan to use his free ad space on the transport network to combat crime.

Mayor Khan is given £2.1 million of space a year by Transport for London to promote his own initiatives which, according to Mr Bailey, includes such adverts as the ban on junk food.

Mr Bailey said it should be donated to Crimestoppers for appeals that help the Met, City of London and British Transport Police tackle the violence epidemic.

The independent charity guarantees anonymity to bring 4,000 criminals to book each year. Mr Bailey, who will take on Mr Khan in the 2020 election, said: “Violent crime in London is out of control and the Mayor needs to be using every tool at his disposal to tackle this problem as quickly as possible.”

A spokesman for Mr Khan today said the space is already being used to tackle violent crime by advertising free holiday activities for young Londoners. He said it is raising awareness of important campaigns to tackle serious youth violence such as the London Needs You Alive campaign, and it is factually untrue to say that the space is used to promote the ban on junk food adverts.

He added: “This is misleading rubbish from Shaun Bailey who knows full well that Sadiq is already using this advertising space to help tackle knife crime, as well as other vital issues like reducing homelessness. Shaun Bailey simply can’t be trusted on crime.”