Sadiq Khan has been re-elected Mayor of London after a narrower than expected victory over Conservative challenger Shaun Bailey.
The Labour candidate’s victory was confirmed at City Hall on Saturday night time and means Sadiq Khan begins a second time period as mayor.
Mr Khan confronted what seemed to be an anxious wait as an in a single day tally confirmed he received 39% of first desire votes with Shaun Bailey profitable 37%.
However, Sadiq Khan had a powerful lead in pre-election opinion polls and nonetheless remained favorite to win.
Mr Khan took 1,206,034 votes after second preferences had been taken into consideration, in comparison with Mr Bailey at 977,601.
Speaking shortly after being re-elected Mr Khan mentioned:
“I’m deeply humbled by the belief Londoners have positioned in me to proceed main the best metropolis of Earth. I promise to pressure each sinew to assist construct a greater and brighter future for London after the darkish days of the pandemic and to create a greener, fairer and safer metropolis the place all Londoners get the alternatives they should fulfil their potential.”
He added: “I’m proud to have received an awesome mandate right now, I wish to thank everybody who voted for me. Labour voters and non-Labour voters. And I wish to converse to each Londoner who did not vote for me this week. I’ll by no means ignore your voice, your issues, or your worries. I’ll all the time be a mayor for all Londoners working to enhance the lives of each single particular person on this metropolis.”
London Mayor Sadiq Khan
Sadiq Khan mentioned the outcomes of the elections across the nation confirmed the UK remained “deeply divided”. He mentioned the scars of Brexit had been “but to heal” and a “crude tradition warfare” was pushing individuals additional aside.
“There’s a rising hole between our cities and our cities and financial equality is getting worse,” Mr Khan mentioned.
In a speech from City Hall after he was defeated, Conservative candidate Shaun Bailey mentioned Londoners had not “written him off”.
He mentioned: “As I went by way of these, for me what was two years of campaigning, one feeling felt acquainted to me, one problem had all the time felt the identical.
“And that was the sensation of being written off – by pollsters, by journalists, by fellow politicians.
Conservative’s Shaun Bailey speaks at City Hall
“But it’s no shock to me that Londoners didn’t write me off – while you come from the place I come from and see the issues I’ve seen as a poor boy who’s been homeless, who’s been unemployed, a youth employee within the metropolis – you perceive London is beneficiant in spirit and provides you with a listening to,” Mr Bailey mentioned.
He added he was proud his marketing campaign was in a position to “shine a lightweight” on the problems many Londoners felt weren’t being heard.
“I used to be glad to shine gentle a lightweight on security, the actual fact many Londoners cannot afford a house and being priced out of London by a relentless renewal of tax,” he mentioned.
Mr Bailey additionally thanked his mum, spouse and kids for supporting him.
Saturday night time’s consequence can be a glimmer of hope to the Labour Party after it acquired a drubbing in native elections in England, shedding management of a bunch of councils and a humiliating defeat within the Hartlepool by-election.
Mr Khan was first elected mayor of the capital in 2016 in a landslide victory, breaking the Conservatives’ eight-year maintain on City Hall.
