Sadiq Khan has been re-elected as London mayor, final results showed on Saturday. This helped cement Labor's lead over the ruling Conservatives in local elections ahead of the UK national vote later this 12 months.
Khan's victory, his third in a row, was widely expected despite some public anger over knife crime and the Ultra Low Emission Zone (ULEZ), which charges drivers of older, more polluting vehicles a each day fee.
For Labor, London is the last of several council and mayoralties it won in Thursday's local elections, inflicting heavy losses on Prime Minister Rishi Sunak's Conservatives.
“It has been a difficult few months, we have faced a campaign of non-stop negativity,” Khan said in a speech after results showed he had won 43.8% of the vote, in comparison with 33% for Conservative candidate Susan Hall.
“For the last eight years, London has been swimming against the tide of a Conservative Tory government and now, with Labor poised to manipulate again under Keir Starmer, it’s time for Rishi Sunak to present the general public a alternative give.”
Opinion polls predict Labor will win the subsequent national election, bringing its leader Keir Starmer to power and ending Britain's 14-year Conservative government.
Khan, 53, who became the British capital's first Muslim mayor in 2016, has promised to construct more social housing and work with a future national Labor government to strengthen police capability.
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