Labour’s Sadiq Khan has secured a record third term, beating Conservative rival Susan Hall.
Khan secured 43.7% of the vote, whilst Hall secured just 32.6%, a significant shift towards Khan compared to his win over Shaun Bailey in 2021.
His commitments include free school meals for all primary school children in Greater London, freezing TfL fares until at least 2025, and a promise to end rough sleeping by 2030.
His win signals a commitment to ULEZ, the £12.50 charge for polluting vehicles, which has remained controversial since it was introduced in 2019.
After a brief bout of booing preceding his speech at City Hall, Khan said: “It’s the honour of my life to serve the city that I love, and I’m beyond humble right now.
“I promise to repay the trust you put in me to work tirelessly to deliver the safer, fairer, greener London you deserve.”
This year marks the first London mayoral election using first past the post, where the candidate with the most votes wins, and voters only get one vote.
Voter turnout was 40.5% according to London Elects, down from 1.5% from 2021.
Polls in the run-up to the ballot on Thursday had indicated that Khan had a comfortable lead of between 10 to 22 points.
There was uncertainty around Labour’s win due to what was seen by some as a delayed call for a ceasefire in Gaza by the party.
Khan stated that London has been “swimming against the tide” of the Tory government, and pointed to electing Keir Starmer as Prime Minister in the upcoming general election as the next step.
Featured image credit: East London Mosque via Flickr (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)
