A Labour councillor has held on to the City and East London Assembly seat in a landslide victory gaining almost four times more votes than his nearest rival.
The East Ham Central Councilor Unmesh Desai won 122,175 votes compared to Conservative’s Christopher Chapman with just 32,546.
The seat was previously held by Labour’s John Biggs who has represented City and East London on the assembly since its introduction in 2000.
Mr Desai said: “We’ll keep London united. We’ve seen a very negative campaign fought by the Conservative party but east London has rejected the politics of fear and division and voted for hope and unity.”
He is keen to start working with the new mayor, likely to be Sadiq Khan, and says that he will focus on improving jobs, housing and transport in east London.
Mr Desai spoke of the privilege of serving the area in which he has lived since 1982 and graciously thanked his opponents for a spirited campaign.
He added: “Above all I want to thank the people of City and East London for giving me such a massive vote of confidence.”
