Sadiq Khan opens up four-point lead over Tory Shaun Bailey in race to become London mayor

6k

View
comments

Sadiq Khan won a second term as mayor of London tonight – but with his majority hammered by Tory Shaun Bailey.

The Labour incumbent will serve a truncated new three-year term after winning the election that was postponed from last year due to the pandemic.

But he was pushed all the way by Mr Bailey, who until yesterday had been given little hope of getting anywhere close to him.  

Mr Khan tonight polled 1,206,034 votes to Mr Bailey’s 977, 601, a majority of 228,433. With second preference votes included Mr Khan won 55 per cent of the vote, down from 57 per cent in 2016.

But in a sign that will please the Tories, Mr Khan’s lead over Mr Bailey is narrower than the 14-point win he achieved over Tory Zac Goldsmith in 2016. 

Mr Khan said he had been handed an ‘overwhelming mandate’. He  won around 40 per cent of first preference votes. 

Shaun Bailey came second with 35.3 per cent of the votes. However, Mr Khan pushed further ahead on second preference votes. 

Speaking after his defeat Mr Bailey talked about being written off by pollsters and the media, adding: ‘It’s no surprise to me that Londoners didn’t write me off.’ 

A result was expected earlier this evening, but counting was delayed after staff at a one count found three unopened boxes of votes after they had finished. 

Responding to the re-election of Sadiq Khan as Mayor of London, the leader of the London Assembly Labour group, Len Duvall, said: ‘Covid has impacted on every element of Londoners’ lives, and it’s certainly had an impact on this year’s elections. 

‘We’ve worked hard to respond to Londoners’ needs, but we’ve really got to have our listening ears on going forward and regain the trust of some Londoners.

‘We know Sadiq Khan has a good record, that is very clear. When it comes to cleaning up London’s toxic air, providing social housing, and getting tough on violent crime and its causes, Sadiq has provided the leadership the capital needs. He will continue to produce practical solutions to the challenges we face.

‘Covid has meant that the challenges will only grow. We need the Mayor to hit the ground running when it comes to London’s recovery, delivering jobs, and making London safer. It’ll be our job on the Assembly to hold him to account and ensure those pledges are delivered upon.’

Labour sources had earlier refused to become too optimistic given how close the race was amid a national picture in England which has seen the Tories make large gains. 

‘It’s still very early in the day but it’s looking positive at this stage,’ they told MailOnline this afternoon.

‘But we remain extremely cautious because there has been a national swing to the Tories.’

If Labour does retain London it will be a rare bright spot in an otherwise torrid week for the party in elections. 

It received a pummelling in the Hartlepool by-election and the vote for the Tees Valley mayor, and has lost council seats across the country. 

But in Wales the party equalled its best-ever Senedd result by winning 30 seats, effectively giving it a majority in the 60-seat chamber. It means Labour’s Mark Drakeford remaining in place as First Minister. 

It also saw Dan Norris elected West of England mayor, beating Conservative candidate Samuel Williams.

Meanwhile in Manchester Andy Burnham received a massive mandate as he was returned as mayor of Greater Manchester with a majority of more than 300,000.

Meanwhile in Scotland Nicola Sturgeon is looking on course for a narrow majority in the Scottish parliament that will heap pressure on Boris Johnson to agree to a new independence referendum – although the result is still too close to call. 

Authorities will announce later this afternoon whether the winner in London will be announced tonight or whether the last few boroughs will continue counting on Sunday morning. 

Mr Khan, a Remainer, had been expected to romp home in the capital, which voted heavily against Brexit.

Polls last month suggested that he would gain more than 50 per cent of the vote – enough to knock out Conservative opponent Shaun Bailey in the first round under the supplementary voting system used in the election.

If the result is closer it will put pressure on Mr Khan in a city where the Tories were believed to be weak.

Nicola Sturgeon upped the ante in her independence battle with Boris Johnson today, warning that his attempts to block a new referendum would fly in the face of ‘Scottish democracy’. 

Nicola Sturgeon warned Boris Johnson not to stand in the way of a new Scottish independence referendum tonight, saying it was the ‘will of the people’.

The First Minister lashed out at Mr Johnson and ‘right-wing Brexit-obsessed Tory governments’ in Westminster as the SNP won the Scottish Parliament election.

Ms Sturgeon’s party is far and away the largest in Holyrood, but fell agonisingly short of an overall majority by a single seat, in a blow to her separatist ambitions.      

The Tories held Aberdeenshire West by more than 3,000 ballots thanks to tactical unionist voting to make it all-but impossible for the SNP to wrestle overall control, leaving them needing a coalition with the Greens.

In a fiery victory speech tonight in Glasgow, Ms Sturgeon said that the Scottish electorate had ‘voted to give pro-independence parties a majority in the Scottish Parliament’. 

‘Usually – and by the normal standards of democracy – parties are expected to deliver on the commitments they make in elections, not face attempts to block them from doing so,’ she said.

‘Given the outcome of this election, there is simply no democratic justification whatsoever for Boris Johnson or anyone else seeking to block the right of the people of Scotland to choose our future.’

‘If there is such an attempt it will demonstrate conclusively that the UK is not a partnership of equals and that Westminster no longer sees the UK as a voluntary union of nations.’

‘That in itself would be a very powerful argument for Scotland becoming an independent country.’ 

Any attempt by Scottish politicians to unilaterally try to hold a referendum would lead to a Supreme Court battle between Holyrood and Westminster. 

Mr Johnson last night insisted he would not back the ‘irresponsible’ move that could break up the union. 

Ms Sturgeon was hoping to hit or pass the required 65-seat mark to give her a stronger mandate to hold a repeat of the 2014 referendum against the wishes of Boris Johnson’s Westminster Government.   But election expert Professor Sir John Curtice this afternoon predicted that the Aberdeen vote would leave the SNP two short on 63.  

Conservative Alexander Burnett held on to the seat with 19,709 votes, increasing his majority there and defeating Fergus Mutch, who polled 16,319 for the SNP.