Breaking: Sadiq Khan WINS 2021 London mayor election over Shaun Bailey

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Sadiq Khan has swept to victory in the 2021 mayor of London election, comfortably beating out Tory challenger Shaun Bailey.

Khan had around 40 per cent of first preference votes and Bailey had around 35 per cent, with the mayor winning the election in the second round of votes.

The incumbent mayor won the election in a closer race than most pundits expected, with Bailey getting the most votes in several constituencies that were expected to go to Labour.

Read more: Mayor of London election latest: Sadiq Khan opens up five-point lead over Shaun Bailey

In his victory speech Khan said that he would “strain every sinew” to “build a better and brighter future for London after the dark days of the pandemic and to create a greener, fairer and safer city for Londoners”.

He also addressed Labour’s poor performances in elections over this weekend.

“The results of the elections around the UK show our country and our city remains deeply divided, the scars of Brexit are yet to heal, the crude culture war is pushing us further apart,” he said.

“As we now seek to confront the enormity of our challenge ahead and we endeavour to rebuild from this pandemic, we simply must use this moment of national recovery to heal those damaging divisions.”

Khan had led Bailey in polls by 20+ points for the past year, leading many to predict a landslide.

The race was neck-and-neck during the first day of counting, before Khan kicked away to a solid lead today as a series of solidly Labour constituencies reported results.

Khan based his campaign around his plans for London’s Covid recovery – including the creation of new jobs and skills centres for young people and a campaign to get people back into central London – while also touting his socially liberal credentials to London’s progressive-leaning electorate.

He often attacked the pro-Brexit Bailey for not having “London’s values” in reference to a long series of socially conservative comments the Tory candidate has previously made on welfare recipients and ethnic minorities.

Bailey, a former social worker, ran as a “tough on crime” candidate, promising to hire 8,000 more cops and to increase the Met’s use of random stop and search.

Labour was blaming the closer than expected result on a low turnout, with one source saying there was “no question we are seeing significant impact from turnout and voters believing they could put a smaller party first preference without influencing the election result”.

Read more: Labour’s credibility is hanging by a thread – the defeat in Hartlepool is just the beginning

Labour were worried in the lead up to polling day about a low turnout providing a surprise upset of the incumbent, however it is believed the early turnout is even lower than the party expected.

Khan got the most votes in the constituencies of North East, Barnet & Camden, Greenwich & Lewisham, Merton & Wandsworth, Enfield & Haringey, City & East and Lambeth & Southwark.

Bailey got the most votes in the constituencies of West Central, Havering & Redbridge, Ealing & Hillingdon, Bexley & Bromley and Brent & Harrow, Croydon & Sutton and the South West.

A senior London Tory party source told City A.M. yesterday that Bailey had “acquitted himself really well”.

“He’s tapped in to what people are talking about – he’s had his ear to the ground and he’s tapped into something in London,” they said.

“He’s been talking about knife crime, about violent crime where Sadiq Khan just keeps blaming the government for it.

“He’s a bright star of the party and he has a lot to give.”

Read more: Andy Burnham’s re-election boosts his stature as ‘King in the North’

Noticeably, Bailey outperformed the Tory London Assembly vote in every constituency bar one – Merton & Wandsworth.

Professor Tony Travers, local politics expert at the London School of Economics (LSE), told City A.M. that this indicated Bailey was “more popular than the Tory party in London”.

“I think maybe his authenticity has come through and that people think he’s un-spun,” Travers said.

More to follow

Read more: Tories complete super Thursday hat trick as Andy Street retains West Midlands mayoralty

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