Sadiq Khan bags record third term as London mayor

LONDON — Sadiq Khan comfortably won a third term as mayor of London after a bitter contest that focused heavily on the hot-button issues of crime and clean air.

Khan, who first won election to City Hall for Labour in 2016 and was re-elected in 2021, secured a third term with 43.9 percent of the vote, seeing off his Conservative challenger Susan Hall, who got just 32.6 percent.

The incumbent London mayor improved on his 2021 margin of victory over the Tories, a fact that is likely to spark recriminations at Conservative Party HQ. The win came despite last-minute Labour jitters that Hall could pull ahead of Khan because of higher-than-expected turnout in parts of London more likely to back her.

Hall was selected ahead of more high-profile Tory candidates including former London Minister Paul Scully. Scully told the BBC Saturday his party had run an “incredibly underwhelming campaign” in the capital, and accused the Conservatives of focusing too heavily on Khan as an individual.

During the campaign, Hall took aim at Khan over his controversial expansion of the capital city’s Ultra Low Emission Zone, a charge on drivers in high-polluting vehicles that the Tories successfully railed against in a Westminster by-election last year.

Hall said she would scrap the expansion on “day one.”

Hall’s candidacy also generated controversy after she liked tweets praising the late right-wing politician Enoch Powell and some containing Islamophobic abuse towards Khan, a practicing Muslim.

Knife crime in London also made headlines during the campaign, with a deadly sword attack in the London suburb of Hainault dominating the final days of the race.

A spokesperson for Khan said Sunday that Londoners had “clearly rejected the overwhelmingly negative and divisive campaign run by the Tories.”

Khan, who formerly served as a Labour MP and minister, will now be the capital’s longest-serving mayor. As well as rising crime in the capital, his in-tray for a third term includes housing affordability and scrutiny of the under-fire Metropolitan Police.

This story has been updated with further reporting.