LONDON: Sadiq Khan was re-elected as London’s mayor, final results showed on Saturday (May 4), helping to cement the Labour Party’s commanding lead over the governing Conservatives in local elections ahead of Britain’s national vote later this year.
Khan’s victory, his third in a row, was widely expected despite some public anger over knife crime and the Ultra Low Emission Zone (ULEZ), which charges drivers of older, more polluting vehicles a daily fee.
London is the latest of dozens of English councils and mayoralties that Labour has won in the local elections that took place on Thursday, inflicting heavy losses on Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s Conservatives.
“It’s been a difficult few months, we faced a campaign of non-stop negativity,” Khan said in a speech after the results showed he had won 43.8 per cent of the vote against 33 per cent for the Conservatives’ candidate, Susan Hall.
“For the last eight years, London has been swimming against the tide of a Tory (Conservative) government and now with a Labour Party that’s ready to govern again under Keir Starmer, it’s time for Rishi Sunak to give the public a choice.”
