Sadiq Khan re-elected as Mayor of London

Sadiq Khan
ELECTIONS: Sadiq Khan is taking the lead in the Mayor of London elections (Photo via Getty Images)

SADIQ KHAN has been re-elected as Mayor of London for a second term.

The votes received in all 14 constituencies were added up to determine the overall winner of this close 2021 London Mayoral Election. After two rounds, Labour-led Mr Khan received 55.2 % of the vote, with his Tory rival, Shaun Bailey receiving 44.8%.

Despite having a commanding lead in pre-election opinion polls, the race between Sadiq Khan and Tory candidate Shaun Bailey was much closer than many persons anticipated. The tally last night showed Khan winning 39% of first preference votes and Bailey winning 37%. Green Party candidate Sian Berry was in third place with 8%.

Labour held on to four assembly seats – Brent & Harrow, Ealing & Hillingdon, Lambeth & Southwark and North East. The Conservatives were returned in Bexley & Bromley, Havering & Redbridge and West Central.

Mr Khan was more confident of a second term after holding Barnet and Camden – a marginal seat – which had to swing decisively to Mr Bailey to give the any hope of a comeback.

Promises made

From his election campaign manifesto, Khan promised to address key areas of concern for black Londoners. One of those areas was tackling the impact of drugs in the city by establishing a new drugs commission.

In a recent interview with The Voice, Khan said: “I’m quite concerned about the impact of drugs on people’s health, but also the impact it has on criminalising young Londoners, particularly around the issue of cannabis.

I want to involve a number of people – those who work in the criminal justice system, those who work in public health, those who work in politics, community relations, academia – to do piece of work looking at what happens in other parts of the world where they’ve decriminalised cannabis to see what lessons we can learn in London, but also in government.”

“Through this commission, we want to be looking at the arguments for and against, and recommendations going forward.”

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2 Comments

  1. | Michael

    Having family and friends in London and living there on and off over the years, I am glad that Sadiq Khan was re-alected. I have been in London when the former mayor and now PM had this idea for a garden bridge across the Thames. Not sure what happened to the money that went into this but I am sure other people do. It’s a pity the PM does not shed a light on this matter about the wasted money.

    Reply

  2. | Jura Parem

    Really glad Sadiq Khan was re-elected. I have yet to read his manifesto but if he is bringing light to the problems that arise with criminalising cannabis, then I am very glad he has the opportunity to bring change to the matter. The positives for this move are more advantageous to the people and less for the government, which is an obstacle he will have to tackle, but I think it is possible.
    The UK government really need to redeem themselves, what with the way they dealt with the pandemic, and now with spending problems.

    Reply

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