Politics

Sadiq Khan victorious as he secures second term as London mayor with 228,000 majority


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adiq Khan won a second term as London mayor tonight after securing an ultimately decisive victory over Shaun Bailey.

Labour incumbent Mr Khan polled 1,206,034 votes – the second highest total in the history of the London mayoralty – compared with 977,601 for his Tory challenger.

This gave Mr Khan a majority of 228,433, again the second highest on record. Mr Khan holds the records for most votes (1,310,143) and biggest winning majority (315,529) from his inaugural victory in 2016 against Tory candidate Zac Goldsmith.

Sadiq Khan: claimed “overwhelming mandate” after receiving 1.2m votes

/ PA

The vote-counting went to a second round run-off after no candidate managed to secure 50 per cent of the votes after first preferences were counted.

Mr Khan will serve a further three years, the normal four year term shortened due to the election having been delayed by a year due to the covid pandemic.

In a combative victory address, he said he was “deeply humbled” to be re-elected and proud to have won an “overwhelming mandate”.

But he said the other elections across the UK showed the country was “deeply divided” since Brexit, covid and the “culture wars”.

He said London would only defeat Covid by “working together” to build a “bigger and brighter future”.

He promised to build “bridges across cultural social and class divides” and vowed to ensure that London played its part in pandemic recovery.

Shaun Bailey: urged Sadiq Khan to tackle violent crime

/ Getty Images

Mr Bailey congratulated all the candidates for their campaigns and made a point of generously congratulating Mr Khan. “Well done, Sadiq,” he said. “I’m genuine in that.”

He said he had felt “written off” by journalists, pollsters and politicians during the campaign but thanked Londoners for giving him a chance.

His 977,601 votes total was 17,013 fewer than Mr Goldsmith achieved in 2016, though he managed to trim the size of Mr Khan’s winning majority by 87,096, though a lower turnout will also have played a part.



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