London election results 2021: Sadiq Khan wins second term as London Mayor

Adarsha Barta Desk:

Labour’s Sadiq Khan has won a second term as London mayor defeating Conservative candidate Shaun Bailey.

The Greater London Returning Officer (GLRO) has announced that Sadiq Khan has been elected the Mayor of London for the next three years. The GLRO announced the result of the Mayoral election on Saturday night at City Hall.

In the first round of voting neither candidates managed to secure an overall majority.  After the final round results, Mr Khan wins a decisive victory with 55.2% of the popular vote.  He secured 1,206,034 votes compared with 977,601 (44.8%) for his rival Mr Bailey. Mr Khan won with a 228,433 vote majority which is second highest on record. This election, there was a total voter turnout of 2,531,357 (41.2%).

The Green Party’s Sian Berry came third with 7.8% of the vote, while the Liberal Democrats’ Luisa Porritt was fourth with 4.4% of the vote. The Lib Dems lost their deposit, as Ms Porritt failed to win more than 5% of the vote.

London Mayor Sadiq Khan speaks at City Hall

Speaking shortly after the results were announced, Mr Khan said: “I’m deeply humbled by the trust Londoners have placed in me to continue leading the greatest city of Earth.”

He also said: “I want to thank everyone who voted for me. Labour voters and non-Labour voters. And I want to speak to every Londoner who didn’t vote for me this week. I will never ignore your voice, your concerns, or your worries. I will always be a mayor for all Londoners working to improve the lives of every single person in this city.”

Conservative’s Shaun Bailey speaks at City Hall

In his speech Mr Bailey congratulated Mr Khan but said he hoped the re-elected mayor would not “blame everything on the government”. He added Londoners had not “written him off”.

Brief background of Sadiq Khan:

Sadiq Aman Khan was born on 8 October 1970 at St George’s Hospital in Tooting, South London to a British Pakistani Muslim family. His family arrived in London from Pakistan in 1968. In London, his father Amanullah Khan worked as a bus driver and mother Sehrun Khan as a seamstress. He is the fifth among his 6 bothers and 1 sister.

He lived with his parents and siblings in a cramped three-bedroomed flat. He attended a local primary school and then Ernest Bevin school in Tooting. He studied science and mathematics at A-level and wanted to become a dentist. He read Law at the University of North London. He subsequently worked as a solicitor specialising in human rights issues and chaired the Liberty advocacy group for three years.

Before entering Parliament, he was a Councillor representing Tooting for the London Borough of Wandsworth from 1994 to 2006. He was elected to Parliament in 2005 and served as a Member of Parliament (MP) for Tooting from 2005 to 2016.

Under Gordon Brown’s government, he was appointed Under-Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government in 2008, later becoming Minister of State for Transport. Under the Labour leader, Ed Miliband, he served in the Shadow Cabinet as Shadow Secretary of State for Justice, Shadow Lord Chancellor and Shadow Minister for London.

He was elected as Mayor of London at the 2016 mayoral election and resigned as an MP. He is London’s first Muslim mayor and first ethnic minority mayor. He has been elected to serve a second term as the Mayor of London in 2021.

In 2018, he was included in the Time 100 list of most influential people in the world. He was presented by Michael Bloomberg, a former three-term mayor of New York City and wrote, “He’s a rising star who has a bright political future. Somewhere down the road, I wouldn’t be at all surprised to see him living at 10 Downing Street.”

Sadiq Khan and wife Saadiya

He married Saadiya Ahmed, a fellow solicitor, in 1994. They have two daughters, Anisah Khan and Ammarah Khan. He is a supporter of Liverpool Football Club.

AB/SA