Ten candidates for London mayor

The mayoral and assembly elections will be held on 1 May

Ten candidates will take part in the London mayoral election on 1 May, it has been announced.

At the close of nominations they had secured the 330 backers necessary to run for the job which has been held by Ken Livingstone since 2000.

Mr Livingstone will run for Labour, Boris Johnson for the Conservatives and Brian Paddick for the Lib Dems.

The Greens, UKIP, the BNP, Christian Choice, Left List, English Democrats and one independent also got through.

Candidates had to pay a £10,000 deposit and secure 330 backers - 10 from each London borough and the City.

THE TEN CANDIDATES Alan Craig Christian Choice Boris Johnson Conservatives Brian Paddick Liberal Democrats Gerard Batten UKIP Ken Livingstone Labour Lindsey German Left List party Matt O'Connor English Democrats Richard Barnbrook BNP Sian Berry Greens Winston McKenzie Independent

Several other small parties said they would stand a candidate but did not make it to the final list - including the Senior Citizens' Party, Stop the Congestion Charge party and New Britain.

On Thursday London Assembly member Damian Hockney withdrew from the mayoral race, blaming a lack of media coverage for smaller parties.

He said it was "nothing to do with" a fear of losing his £10,000 deposit and complained that smaller groups were "effectively barred" from certain types of campaigning.

If none of the mayoral candidates gets more than 50% of votes at the first count, all but the top two candidates are knocked out and their second preference votes shared out.

Their deposits are refunded if they get 5% of first-choice votes.

Several candidates are also standing for a seat on the London Assembly, made up of 14 constituency members and 11 on the London-wide "top up" list - elected by proportional representation.