LABOUR’S London mayoral candidate Sadiq Khan said yesterday that the living wage should be raised to above £10 an hour to meet the capital’s soaring housing costs.

In a speech to the Resolution Foundation think tank, Mr Khan said he wanted to make London a “living-wage city” if elected mayor in May.

But he argued that the current rate of £9.40 per hour for workers in the capital needs to be recalculated and raised to properly reflect the high price of London’s housing.

“Before housing costs are taken into account, London has an equivalent — even lower — rate of in-work poverty than other regions,” he explained.

“When you factor housing costs in, London has a far bigger problem.

“And that’s before you consider the impact of the costs of childcare and transport.”

There are currently 724 public and private-sector employers paying the London living wage, but it is estimated that over 700,000 people are still paid less than the rate needed to meet basic living costs.

Mr Khan sought to deflect Tory attacks on him as “anti-business” by pledging to extend the living wage “using carrots not sticks.”

He added that filthy rich Tory candidate Zac Goldsmith had neither the “experience, the values or the vision” to be London’s mayor.

The Star revealed earlier this week that Mr Goldsmith has issued leaflets boasting of his support for the Trade Union Bill and pledging to crack down on Tube strikes.

He was also criticised earlier this week for branding Mr Khan “radical and divisive” in a leaflet which Labour said had Islamaphobic undertones.