Sadiq Khan’s salary rises to £170,282, surpassing Prime Minister’s pay

London Mayor Sadiq Khan’s pay has been increased by £5,000 to £170,282, placing him marginally above Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s £169,344 salary, the Greater London Authority (GLA) published on Tuesday.

City Hall said the rise was part of a 3.2% increase applied to the mayor and London Assembly members following an independent review and the conclusion of this year’s local government pay settlement.

The GLA biography update that disclosed the change was first reported by the Evening Standard. A GLA spokesperson said the process for determining annual salary adjustments is uniform, independent of the mayor, and linked to the local government pay agreement.

Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s total pay is made up of his MP salary of £93,904 and a ministerial component of £75,440; recent prime ministers have not always claimed the full ministerial allowance of £80,807, the GLA note said. With the increase, Khan is believed to be the highest-paid politician in the UK apart from the Speaker of the House of Commons, who earns £174,524.

The rise comes as Khan, a Labour politician serving a third term at City Hall, continues to oversee Transport for London and other citywide responsibilities. The mayor has faced scrutiny in recent months over industrial action on London’s transport network, crime rates, and housebuilding targets. Transport workers staged strikes last week that disrupted services across the capital.

Susan Hall, the Conservative candidate defeated in last year’s mayoral election, criticised the increase, saying in comments reported by the Mail that if Khan were on performance-related pay "he would owe Londoners a fortune." City Hall rejected the implication that the adjustment was discretionary, reiterating that it followed an independent review and was part of a standing process.

Other devolved and mayoral salaries cited alongside Khan’s rise include Scotland’s First Minister John Swinney, who recently declined a pay increase and remains on £135,605; Wales’s First Minister Eluned Morgan on £157,624; and Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham on £118,267. The GLA statement set out the increase as a local-government-wide adjustment rather than a bespoke decision for the mayor’s office.

The publication of the updated salary prompted commentary about accountability and the optics of pay increases for senior public officials amid public service disruptions and broader cost-of-living pressures. City Hall said the process is impartial and in line with long-standing practice, adding that the adjustments apply for the duration of the current term.

The mayoralty combines civic duties, oversight of transport and city services, and a high public profile that often draws scrutiny of both policy outcomes and remuneration. The GLA entry updating Khan’s biography and pay was made available on its website and forms the basis of the figures disclosed on Tuesday.