Sadiq Khan has secured a historic third term as London Mayor and used his victory speech to tell Prime Minister Rishi Sunak to ‘give the public a choice’ and call for a general election.
The Labour Mayor thanked Londoners for voting him back in after he trounced his Tory rival Susan Hall – dashing rumours that he could be ousted by a backlash over ULEZ, crime and Gaza.
Mr Khan celebrated his ‘increased margin of victory’ on the previous election as he defeated Hall by more than 11 percentage points, receiving 1,088,225 votes to her 811,518.
He spoke following the official declaration of his win to slam the government for not announcing a date for a parliamentary election, which will take place this year.
‘For the last eight years London has been swimming against the tide of a Tory 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,’ he said.
‘A General Election will not just pave the path to a new direction for our country it will make bold action Londoners want to see a reality.’
Mr Khan’s win will fuel soul-searching within the Conservative party over how they ended up with Ms Hall as the candidate – and why she was unable to capitalise on anger at the mayor’s performance.
The Conservative candidate used her speech to slam Mr Khan for his record on crime, saying: ‘The thing that matters to [Londoners] most and to me is reforming the Met and making London safe again.
‘I hope Sadiq makes this his top priority. He owes it to the families of those thousand people who have lost lives to knife crime under his mayoralty.’
She went on to criticise him for comments he made last month in response to concerns she raised about ‘gangs running around with machetes’ in London, saying his dismissal of her claims was ‘patronising’.
Conservative Party mayoral candidate Susan Hall, left, shakes hands with the winning Labour Party’s Sadiq Khan on stage as he is re-elected for a third time as Mayor of London
Sadiq Khan (pictured with his wife Saadiya this morning) has emerged victorious in his bid for a third term as London mayor
Mr Khan said at the time: ‘I say in a respectful way, I think the Tory candidate should stop watching The Wire. We’re not living in Baltimore, USA, in the noughties.’
His comments came just a week before a horrifying sword attack took place in Hainault, which left a 14-year-old boy dead.
Ms Hall said today that she hopes the incumbent Mayor ‘stops patronising people like me who care. This isn’t an episode of The Wire. This is real-life, on his watch.
‘I will continue to hold Sadiq to account and stand up for the hard-working families, to motorists and to women.
‘I love London, and I urge Sadiq to try harder to make it better, for all our sakes.’
A Labour source hailed the win, insisting Mr Khan had ‘done better than anyone could have expected’ and gained ground on the Conservatives ‘right across London’.
They said the mayor ‘has been re-elected with by far the biggest direct mandate in the UK and the second biggest in Europe’.
‘He’s deeply humbled and grateful that 1,088,225 Londoners lent him their vote and vows to deliver for every single Londoner – whoever they voted for,’ the source added.
Mr Khan said he was ‘beyond humbled’ by the win and thanked those who voted for him ‘from the bottom of my heart’, adding ‘it has been the honour of my life to serve the city that I love.’
He also thanked his family for their support, but also apologised to them for the ‘threats’ they had received and ‘protests by our home’.
Mr Khan said: ‘A special thank you goes to my mum, everything she’s done for me. I love you. And to my amazing wife, Saadiya, and our daughters Anisah and Ammarah, for their strength and support throughout all these years.
‘I know there have been times when this job has taken a toll on you. But that’s not right, or fair. Some of the stuff on social media, the protests by our home, the threats. It’s upsetting, it’s frightening and it’s wrong. I’m truly sorry for putting you through this.
‘But I also know, you share my belief as hard as it can be sometimes, this work is worth doing because it means being able to give to other families the same life-changing opportunities that this wonderful city has extended to ours. I love you all so much.’
As the declarations were made in the 14 electoral areas, it quickly became clear that Tory hopes of a shock, driven by speculation turnout was down in inner London, were wide of the mark.
On a visit to Mansfield this morning, Keir Starmer (pictured with new East Midlands mayor Claire Ward) insisted he was ‘confident’ that Mr Khan could keep control of City Hall
Polls ahead of the election suggested that the incumbent was on track for a comfortable victory over Tory rival Susan Hall (pictured)
The margin is significantly bigger than the 4.7 points he beat Shaun Bailey by at the last contest in 2021, and the widest victory for two decades.
An ally of Mr Khan said: ‘Sadiq has increased his share of the vote in places in both inner and outer London.
‘Londoners have clearly rejected the overwhelmingly negative and divisive campaign run by the Tories.
‘Labour’s positive campaign resonated with Londoners, focusing on Sadiq’s cost-of -living offer of universal free school meals and keeping fares low, as well as his world-leading green action.
‘And this result gives Sadiq the mandate to deliver the bold pledges he campaigned on to build a fairer, safer and greener London for everyone.’
The ally said that under Sir Keir’s leadership Labour was ‘winning the areas needed for a general election majority’, suggesting Mr Khan will use his victory speech to repeat demands for an immediate general election.
Polls in the run up to the ballot on Thursday had shown Mr Khan with a comfortable lead of between 10 and 22 points.
However, jitters started spreading through Labour circles yesterday over a spike in turnout in outer London – typically dominated by Conservative voters and where anger about the ULEZ expansion has been most fierce.
Supporters of Mr Khan were worried that he could have been damaged by a wider trend of Muslim voters shunning Labour over Keir Starmer’s strong support for Israel.
But Keir Starmer insisted this morning he was ‘confident’ that Mr Khan would be able keep control of City Hall. That view was proved right as the declarations began this morning.
Mr Khan won 83,792 votes in Greenwich and Lewisham, one of the first London boroughs to declare its mayoral vote, with Ms Hall on 36,822.
That was equivalent to a 4.5 per cent swing from the Tories to Labour compared to the previous contest in 2021.
The count taking place at the ExCel centre in London today
In Merton and Wandsworth Mr Khan received 84,725 and Ms Hall 50,976.
That was a 5.1 per cent swing away from the Conservatives.
Mr Khan also recorded commanding leads in the West Central area – by 54,481 to 43,405 for Ms Hall – where Tory candidates have previously triumphed.
In the North East, he was ahead by 127,455 to 34,099, and in the South West by 77,011 to 68,856 – although there are still nine more results to come.
The only exception was in Bexley and Bromley, where Ms Hall racked up a huge 111,216 votes, more than double the 48,952 for Mr Khan.
Asked on Sky News yesterday about the London jitters, shadow health secretary Wes Streeting – MP for Ilford North – said: ‘We’ve always feared this race will be close.’
The total vote in London was 2,495,621.
The row over the expansion of the £12.50-a-day ULEZ charge was previously credited with helping the Tories to cling on in the Uxbridge by-election, although Mr Khan’s team had believed the fallout was dissipating.
Mr Khan was one of the first Labour politicians to call for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, but Sir Keir’s strong support for Israel’s right to self-defence caused anger among many supporters.
There was evidence of that in the results yesterday, with Labour losing overall control of Oldham council after independents claimed seats.
Senior allies of Mr Khan had told that it is ‘going to be close’.
The final surveys gave Mr Khan a lead of between 10 and 22 points
But confidence grew during the course of the day.
Sir Keir said: ‘Sadiq Khan was absolutely the right candidate. He has got two terms of delivery behind him and I am confident that he has got another term of delivery in front of him.’
Mr Khan faced intense scrutiny over his record on law and order during the campaign, after a 14-year-old schoolboy become the latest victim of knife crime in the capital.
Home Secretary James Cleverly was among those slamming the Mayor’s perceived failures, with calls for every front-line officer to be equipped with a Taser.
Ms Hall appealed for Londoners to take their ‘last chance to vote for a Mayor who will get a grip on crime and make people safe, stop the ULEZ expansion, halt Khan’s plans for pay-per-mile and build more family homes that people can afford’.
Conservative MP for Sutton Paul Scully, who stood unsuccessfully to be the Tory Mayor of London candidate, said his party had ‘gifted’ Khan the win and ran an ‘incredibly underwhelming campaign’ in the capital.
Rob Blackie, the Lib Dem candidate who served as then-party leader Charles Kennedy’s director of research during the Iraq War, has already conceded defeat.
Posting on X/Twitter, he said: ‘ At City Hall for the official result. Thank you to everybody for voted for me and the @LondonLibDems team.’