Conservative mayoral candidate for London, Zac Goldsmith, has told voters he "has the tools" to halt London's spiralling housing crisis.

The Richmond Park and North Kingston MP, who will go toe-to-toe with Labour's Mayoral candidate Sadiq Khan, is gearing up for a campaign to succeed current mayor Boris Johnson at the May 2016 election.

In an exclusive interview with Get West London, Goldsmith, who is reported to be worth around £300m, talks about his opposition to Heathrow expansion, his proposed solution to London's housing crisis and his thoughts on George Osborne's Autumn Statement .

When asked why voters in London should vote for him ahead of Khan, he said: "My record shows I have always been willing to stand up to authority - even if it is my own party."

So what does he feel he can bring to London if he is voted in?

Housing

Mr Goldsmith said, should he be voted London's next mayor, his primary focus will be to solve London's housing crisis which is currently seeing first-time buyers muscled out of the market.

Ealing house prices are forecast to rise by 50% by the year 2020, with the rest of London set to follow suit by a similar figure.

Mr Goldsmith, who won a ballot vote of 70.6% to become the candidate, said should he become mayor his role will be to identify areas fit for housing, especially brownbelt (land previously used for industrial purposes).

He added: "The bottom line is the way we are going to lower prices is by building, if we do not prices will be unafforable.

"We are in the position where unless you're at one end of the extreme where you're wealthy enough to buy a home or qualify for (social) housing you're going to be in trouble.

"But we have all the tools to deliver.

"We do not know the geographic of the 400,000 homes, promised by George Osbourne (in the Autumn Statement), but that represents a small part of a big housing project.

"It is also about working with local government."

Police and the Autumn Statement

He also said he was thrilled by the news that policing would not be cut because public mood suggested there would be a slash of at least 10%.

But Mr Goldsmith did say he still believes there are room for cuts within the police force.

He added: "Policing, I am sure, most people were breathing a sigh of relief with the spending review because I think most people thought there would be at least a 10 per cent cut.

"But there are a lot of things that could be done (for saving money) and we have got to get more from less.

"The fact that the commissioner thought we could handle a cut of 10 per cent shows there can be savings.

"There are buildings which are not necessary and there is a lot that could be done."

Heathrow

According the Mr Goldsmith, expansion to Heathrow Airport would be of little benefit to the airport.

He wants to see rival airports across the UK improve, so that it has more competition.

He said: "I do not think it would suffer (increased competition).

"My view which is that we need a better not bigger Heathrow Airport.

"I am not proposing it is closed but it would benefit from greater competition."