Saturday 4 May 2024 17:13, UK
Labour’s Sadiq Khan has secured a historic third term as London mayor, seeing off Tory challenger Susan Hall.
It followed “wild rumors” the incumbent could have suffered a shock defeat, although both sides subsequently said they believed Mr Khan would win.
He received just over 1,088,000 votes (43.7%) to be re-elected, a majority of some 275,000 over Ms Hall, who secured just under 812,000 votes (32.6%).
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He was the first time any candidate for London mayor has won a third term in office, with Mr Khan’s predecessors Boris Johnson and Ken Livingstone both having served two terms.
Earlier in the day, Sir Keir Starmer said he was confident of victory for Mr Khan, who was first elected to the role in 2016.
The Labor leader said: “Sadiq Khan was absolutely the right candidate.
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“He has got two terms of delivery behind him and I am confident that he has got another term of delivery in front of him.”
Both Mr Khan and Ms Hall had repeatedly clashed during the campaign, fought out amid concerns about knife crime and the handling of pro-Palestinian marches in the capital.
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Just recently, Mr Khan had described his Conservative rival as the “most dangerous candidate I have fought against” over his past social media activity.
Hitting back, Ms Hall said she had “learnt” from her mistakes and branded her comment “outrageous”.
A clear dividing line between the candidates had been Mr Khan’s controversial expansion of the ultra low emission zone (ULEZ), which has been the subject of ongoing protests and which Ms Hall had pledged to scrap.
During the race, the Conservatives were forced to delete a clip used in an advert against Mr Khan’s record on crime after it emerged it used footage of a stampede at a New York subway station.
The result comes after Rishi Sunak’s Tory party took a hammering at the local electionsshedding hundreds of seats and losing more than 10 councils.
Meanwhile, Labor has made gains across the country, winning the Blackpool South by-election with a 26% swing from the Tories and taking control of councils in key battleground areas.
The party also picked up new mayoralties, including the critical regions of East Midlands and York and North Yorkshire, which includes Mr Sunak’s Richmond constituency.
Mr Starmer said: “This is effectively the last stop on the journey to the general election and I am really pleased to be able to show we are making progress, we have earned the trust and confidence of voters and we are making progress towards that general election.”
Mr Sunak has taken consolation in the Conservative victory in the Tees Valley mayoral race, which was retained by Lord Houchen and seems to be enough to calm rumblings among discontented Tory MPs.
However, the crunch contest for West Midlands major remains on a knife-edge.
Labor has also not had it all its own way, losing control of councils in Oldham and Kirklees after victories for independent candidates opposing the party’s stance on Gaza.
Labor also lost seats on other councils including Bristol, where the Greens extended their lead as the largest party and could now be set to run the city council despite narrowly failing to win outright control.
Notably, all 14 councilors in the newly created Bristol Central constituency are now Green, where the party is looking to unseat Labour’s shadow culture secretary Thangam Debbonaire at the general election.
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Sky News elections analyst Professor Michael Thrasher also says although the results are bad news for the Tories, they do not put Labor on course for an overall majority in the Commons in a general election.
The Tories have so far lost 473 seats and control of 12 councils.
Labor has won control of eight councils as it gained 185 seats, while the Liberal Democrats gained 104 seats and the Greens 74.
The Liberal Democrats’ most significant victory was winning control of Dorset council from the Conservatives.
