"This city is in my blood": Labour's Sadiq Khan secures second term

SADIQ Khan has won a second term as London's Mayor, beating Conservative rival Shaun Bailey.

He won 55.2% of the popular vote, after second-choice votes had to be counted as no candidate secured a majority in the first round.

Bailey secured 44.8% of the first and second-round votes, while Green Party candidate Sian Berry came third with 7.8% and Lib Dem Luisa Porritt came fourth with 4.4%.

Although Khan won with a 228,000 majority, having received 1,206,034 votes, he failed to reach his record-setting vote total of 2016.

Bailey on the other hand managed to increase the Conservative vote share by 1.6% to 977,601.

Speaking at City Hall late Saturday night (8 May) the re-elected Mayor said: "I am deeply humbled by the trust Londoners have placed in me to continue leading the greatest city on earth.

"There is far more that unites us than divides us.

"We simply must use this moment of national recovery to heal those damaging divisions.

"I'm a Londoner through and through, this city is in my blood.

"But I'm also a patriotic Englishman and a Brit who's proud to represent this nation's great capital.

"This virus doesn't care whether you live in London or Liverpool, whether you're a Brexiteer or a Remainer or what you think it means to be woke.

"We're only defeating it by acting together and by helping each other.

"We must capture that spirit of unity and co-operation to build a better and brighter future and it's in this spirit I promise to lead London over the next three years.

"We must all work together to build a brighter, greener and more equal future for London and for our entire country after the pandemic.

"Most importantly, thank you to my fellow Londoners for the trust you've placed in me once again today – it's a privilege to serve."

He added: "I will always be a mayor for all Londoners, working to improve the lives of every single person in this city.

"The results of the elections around the UK shows our country, and even our city, remains deeply divided.

"The scars of Brexit have yet to heal.

"A crude culture war is pushing us further apart."

He continued: "Economic inequality is getting worse both within London and in different parts of our country.

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

Shaun Bailey said he had been 'written off' by pollsters, journalists and other politicians but not by Londoners.

He congratulated Khan but said he hoped the re-elected mayor would not 'blame everything on the government'.

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