Sadiq Khan Re-elected as Mayor of London


Win declared after second preference votes were counted

Mayor of London Sadiq Khan
Mayor of London Sadiq Khan

Sadiq Khan has been re-elected as Mayor of London after beating Conservative rival Shaun Bailey.

In a contest that was closer than many predicted at one stage, Mr Khan eventually won by 1,206,034 votes to Shaun Bailey’s 977,601 when second preference votes were taken into account.

17 of the 20 candidates in the mayoral election are set to lose the £10,000 deposit required to run for mayor.

Concerns have been raised over the layout of the mayoral ballot paper, however, with more than 42,000 ballots papers rejected because more than one candidate was selected as a first preference.

Upon being declared the winner, Mr Khan said he would “strain every sinew to help build a better and brighter future for London”.

Mr Khan said, “The results of the elections around the UK show that our country, and even our city, remain deeply divided. The scars of Brexit are yet to heal, a crude culture war is pushing us further apart. There is a growing gap between our cities and towns and economic inequality is getting worse, both within London and between different parts of our country.

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

The Mayor of London went on to say that he is a “Londoner through and through” but also a “patriotic Englishman and a Brit who is proud to represent this nation’s great capital”.

Green candidate Sian Berry said, “This is the Green Party’s best ever result in an election to become Mayor of London, and with the election of more Green Assembly Members, it is a serious mandate for the ideas we were putting in front of the public this campaign - rent controls, flat fares, and a higher living wage.

“We started conversations in this campaign, we won the arguments, and we set the agenda. Over the three years ahead, Greens will be in City Hall pushing the Mayor to take action on these issues, reminding him that Londoners love our ideas, and winning real change for every single person in this city.”

Mayor of London election 6 May 2021
Party Candidate 1st round 2nd round
Total Of round Transfers Total Of round
Labour Sadiq Khan
1,013,721
40.0%
192,313
1,206,034
55.2%
Conservative Shaun Bailey
893,051
35.3%
84,550
977,601
44.8%
Green Siân Berry
197,976
7.8%
Liberal Democrats Luisa Porritt
111,716
4.4%
Independent Niko Omilana
49,628
2.0%
Reclaim Laurence Fox
47,634
1.9%
London Real Brian Rose
31,111
1.2%
Rejoin EU Richard Hewison
28,012
1.1%
Count Binface Count Binface
24,775
1.0%
Women's Equality Mandu Reid
21,182
0.8%
Let London Live Piers Corbyn
20,604
0.8%
Animal Welfare Vanessa Hudson
16,826
0.7%
UKIP Peter Gammons
14,393
0.6%
Independent Farah London
11,869
0.5%
Heritage David Kurten
11,025
0.4%
Independent Nims Obunge
9,682
0.4%
SDP Steve Kelleher
8,764
0.3%
Renew Kam Balayev
7,774
0.3%
Independent Max Fosh
6,309
0.2%
Burning Pink Valerie Brown
5,305
0.2%
Labour hold

Joe Talora - Local Democracy Reporter

May 9, 2021