Labour’s Sadiq Khan has been re-elected to City Hall for a historic third term as he cruised to victory in the London mayoral elections.
Khan secured just over 1,088,000 votes, compared to Conservative rival Susan Hall’s 813,000, delivering him a majority of some 275,000.
The incumbent mayor, who has been in post for the past eight years, was re-elected as he snapped up support across the capital, despite turnout across London being down from 2021 and 2016 on 40.5 per cent.
It came despite Conservative briefings on Friday suggesting Hall, a former Harrow council leader and ex-City Hall Tory group leader, could snatch victory in the capital, after turnout figures indicated higher voter numbers in outer London areas.
Speaking ahead of Khan’s win, Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer issued a fresh challenge to Prime Minister Rishi Sunak to call an election, declaring: “Fourteen years and, I am sorry, I don’t care which political party you support, if you leave your country in a worse state than when you found it 14 years later, you do not deserve to be in government for a moment longer.”
The mayor has introduced policies including the ultra low emissions zone (ULEZ) expansion to outer London in a bid to clean up the capital’s air, and has been criticised for his record on tackling knife crime and housing delivery.
His manifesto pledges included getting 40,000 new social homes built, delivering 50,000 new jobs and making London’s rivers swimmable by 2034.
More to follow.