Seven of London’s 14 constituencies voted for the Conservative candidate in last week’s mayoral election, but only three remained siding with Shaun Bailey after the second-round-votes were counted.
Incumbent Sadiq Khan won the election comfortably, by a margin of 10.46% points, slightly lower than the 13 points predicted by the latest polls.
Mayor Khan’s overall lead stood under five points after the first round of votes were counted, only increasing to the final margin once accounting for the second round of votes.
The mayoral elections follow the supplementary vote system, by which voters get to vote twice, for their first and second candidate of choice.
If no candidate gets over 50% of the vote after the first count, the total number of second choice votes for the two preferred candidates are considered, ensuring that the winning candidate has received a simple majority of the vote once all votes are considered.
The constituencies of Brent & Harrow, Ealing & Hillingdon, South West, West Central, Havering & Redbridge, Bexley & Bromley and Croydon & Sutton all voted for the Conservative candidate in the first round.
However, only the east London constituencies of Havering & Redbridge and Bexley & Bromley, and SWL’s Croydon & Sutton voted for Bailey overall.
Councillor Gregory Stafford, leader of the Conservative group in Ealing and GLA candidate for the Tories in Ealing & Hillingdon, considered this to be a reflection on the mayor’s performance over the past five years, as well as on the work of the Labour Council in Ealing.
He said: “Ealing and Hillingdon have really felt at best disconnected, or ignored, from what Khan was doing, and at worst, actively punished by him.
“I think there was a real feeling when I was knocking the doors, that people couldn’t really name any successes or achievements for him, and the only things they could think of were things that negatively impacted upon their lives.”
The mayor took the constituency with 57.55% of the vote on the second round.
Council elections will take place in London in a year time, and the parties are looking at last week’s results as a test on their potential performance at the local level.
The Liberal Democrats, whose performance across England was subpar last week, are looking forward to campaigns in the boroughs of Kingston and Richmond, where they currently hold power, after a better than expected performance in the South West constituency.
The Green Party’s surge is also one to watch, as their vote share grew in every single constituency compared to their 2016 performance.
In Ealing, councillor Stafford declared himself to be confident that in a year time, the party’s performance will be better than in the previous one – although the jump from their current eight seats to the 37 required for a majority is unlikely.
