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Sadiq Khan's popularity as Mayor of London has plummeted into negative figures for the first time, according to his own data.

Three years into his administration, Mr Khan’s net approval rating dropped to minus one per cent last December.

This meant 32 per cent of people who took part in a poll said they were satisfied, while 33 per cent said they were dissatisfied.

The figures show Mr Khan’s net satisfaction rating has dramatically gone down after a honeymoon year at the start of his mayoralty in 2016.

The YouGov survey will be a concern for Mr Khan, who is just a year away from the next election when he will take on Tory Shaun Bailey , Green Sian Berry and Lib Dem Siobhan Benita.

The Mayor has always had a positive rating until the most recent data.

Opinions of Mr Khan were highest in July 2016, two months after his election, when he had a 37-point net approval rating, and in June 2017, when 50 per cent of respondents said they were very or fairly satisfied with his performance, giving a 33-point net approval.

His popularity remained relatively steady until February 2018, with a net approval of 22 points. But this fell to a 12-point net approval last June, and to a two-point net approval in July. Critics point to both London’s knife-crime epidemic and the troubled Crossrail project — which last week was revealed to be delayed by two years — as reasons for the dissatisfaction.

More than 1,000 Londoners were asked: “Are you satisfied or dissatisfied with the job that Sadiq Khan is doing as Mayor?”

City Hall commissions YouGov surveys on a regular basis, including the poll on the performance of the Mayor himself. The cost to City Hall is around £520,000 for four years of polling. Mr Khan also seeks the opinions of Londoners on major issues, from Donald Trump and Brexit to re-usable water bottles.

The most recently published poll, from last December, shows how the number of respondents “very dissatisfied” with Mr Khan had risen to 19 per cent. Opposition was strongest among pensioners, with 34 per cent of people aged 65 and older very dissatisfied.

A source close to the Mayor said a more recent poll showed that his satisfaction rating had gone to a positive net two per cent.

However, they were currently unable to publish the data due to purdah rules ahead of local elections.

Gareth Bacon, leader of the Conservatives at City Hall, said: “Sadiq Khan constantly tries to distract from his abysmal track record by spending millions on spin. Londoners have understandably had enough of soaring violent crime rates, cancelled transport infrastructure upgrades, the ongoing Crossrail fiasco, missed house-building targets and millions being splurged on waste, bureaucracy and PR.”