'I can't lose'

Tory candidate Steve Norris believes a massive anti-Blair vote will win him the London mayoral election.

He claims Ken Livingstone has been haemorrhaging support since he chose to rejoin the Labour Party in January.

He now believes the Prime Minister's personal unpopularity and the fall-out from the Iraq war will be strong enough to sweep him to power on 10 June.

Speaking exclusively to the Evening Standard last night, Mr Norris said: "For the first time I know I won't lose."

The former Conservative transport minister, who has come in for personal criticism for his refusal to stand down as interim chairman of controversial rail firm Jarvis, is running a good second in the mayoral race.

The most recent poll, for the Evening Standard last week, revealed he had halved the gap between himself and the Mayor to nine points, but still predicted a clear victory for Mr Livingstone.

Now Mr Norris, buoyed by positive feedback on the streets and the poor showing of Lib-Dem candidate Simon Hughes, who is in third place, believes victory is within his grasp.

He said Mr Livingstone had "made the biggest mistake of his life" in choosing to rejoin Labour at a time when his own personal popularity as an independent, maverick Mayor stretched beyond that of Tony Blair. "People are telling him, 'I'll vote for you, Ken, but I won't vote for Labour'," Mr Norris said.

He said the first evidence of Mr Livingstone's difficulties came in last year's Brent East by-election when unknown Lib-Dem Sarah Teather beat a Labour candidate personally endorsed by the Mayor in a safe constituency.

The by-election result also showed huge numbers of Labour supporters had not bothered to vote because of disenchantment with the war in Iraq, Mr Norris added.

He admitted that his original campaign strategy had been to pick up Lib-Dem votes and turn the mayoral contest into a two-horse race. But now opponents of New Labour - and those disappointed with the failure of Mr Hughes to make a breakthrough - were turning to him as the only candidate able to deal the Prime Minister a "bloody nose", he said.

Previously he thought anti-Blair sentiment might win him an extra four per cent of the vote. Now he claimed this was more likely to be 14 per cent - with Mr Livingstone's personal opposition to the war doing little to distinguish him from the Prime Minister.

Last night the main candidates for Mayor clashed at a hustings meeting organised by the pressure group Transport 2000.

While Mr Norris remained upbeat and revelled in tackling the occasional heckler, Mr Livingstone appeared tetchy and anxious to be elsewhere. The Mayor also responded angrily when he thought an audience member had been barred from asking about the congestion charge.

Mr Livingstone gave the clearest indication yet that he was determined to press ahead with plans to double the size of the congestion zone by taking it into Kensington and Chelsea by 2006.

"I really wish to do this," he said. "We have to get the money from Government. But if I'm elected I will do all I can to drive this policy forward."

He also endorsed the reduction of 30mph speed limits in residential areas to 20mph, saying he would rather see these enforced by speed cameras than road humps.