Sadiq Khan has won an unprecedented third term as Mayor of London for Labour by the comfortable margin of 11 percentage points over his closest rival, the Conservative Susan Hall, with Liberal Democrat Rob Blackie finishing third just ahead of the Green Party’s Zoë Garbett in fourth.
Khan received 1,088,225 votes, representing a 43.8 per cent share of the 2,493,455 votes cast. Hall secured 812,397 (32.7 per cent), Blackie 145,184 and Garbett 145,114 (5.8 per cent in both cases).
There had been speculation that Hall might pull off a shock win despite opinion polls suggesting Khan was well ahead. However, the Labour incumbent finished further ahead of the Tory runner-up under the newly-imposed First Past The Post system than he had her predecessor in the previous mayoral race in 2021, held under Supplementary Vote rules.
It is the first time an incumbent London Mayor has been re-elected with an increased mandate, achieved with the help of an overall 3.2 per cent swing to Labour from the Tories.
In his acceptance speech Khan promised Londoners he would be “working tirelessly to deliver the fairer, safer and greener London you deserve” having gone through “a difficult few months” facing a Tory campaign he described as one of “non-stop negativity”.
He added: “But I could not be more proud that we answered fear-mongering with facts, hate with hope and attempts to divide with efforts to unite.”
A spokesperson for Khan had earlier said: “Londoners have clearly rejected the overwhelmingly negative and divisive campaign run by the Tories.”
Hall’s bid for the mayoralty relied heavily on promising to immediately reverse Khan’s expansion last year of the Ultra-Low Emission Zone (ULEZ) air quality scheme to cover the whole of Greater London and on blaming him for crime levels in the capital.
However, higher turnouts in some outer London areas affected by the ULEZ scheme, where Conservative support, is strongest did not translate into swings in Hall’s favour.
Reform UK’s Howard Cox finished fifth with 78,865 votes (three per cent) and independent Natalie Campbell came sixth with 47,815 votes (two per cent). The remaining seven candidates received one per cent or less.
The Conservatives also fared poorly in London Assembly constituency results, losing the West Central seat to Labour Westminster councillor James Small-Edwards and the South West seat to the Liberal Democrats’ Gareth Roberts, leader of Richmond Council. Both seats had previously always been won by Tories. It was the first time the Lib Dems have won a constituency seat on the 25-member scrutiny body.
The other constituency newcomers are Ealing councillor Bassam Mahfouz who held Ealing & Hillingdon for Labour and Bromlet councillor Thomas Turrell, who held Bexley & Bromley for the Tories.
The mechanisms of the Assembly’s Mixed Member Proportional electoral system brought some consolation for the Tories through the London-wide list section of the ballot, which produced one more Assembly member (AM) for them than in 2021 – Alessandro Georgiou, a councillor in Enfield.
The same formula meant the constituency gains of Labour and the Lib Dems meant they each lost a London-wide seat. One London-wide seat was won by Reform UK’s Alex Wilson, a former Tory councillor in Redbridge.
The final London Assembly line-up by political party is:
- Labour 11 (10 constituency, one London-wide, no overall change from 2021).
- Conservatives 8 (three/five, down one from 2021).
- Greens 3 (all London-wide list, no change from 2021).
- Lib Dems 2 (one/one, no overall change from 2021).
- Reform UK 1 (did not contest 2021 elections).
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