London Mayor Sadiq Khan. (Photo by Jack Taylor/Getty Images)
Labour’s Sadiq Khan has today won a third term as Mayor of London.
He beat off a weak and divisive motoring-focussed challenge from Susan Hall, the Conservative candidate.
Khan was first elected the Mayor of London in 2016. A few months later he became one of the most prominent opponents of Brexit.
Born in Tooting, South London, to a British Pakistani family, Khan was a lawyer before becoming a Member of Parliament.
Following his successful election in 2016 he argued online and in interviews with President Donald Trump.
Khan was re-elected as Mayor in May 2021.
His main opponent was officially named as the Conservative Party candidate for the Mayor of London election at the Battle of Britain Bunker in Uxbridge, London, on July 19, 2023. Hall was an unconvicing candidate from the off.
Councillor Susan Hall gestures after being named as the Conservative Party candidate for the Mayor ... [+]
The 2024 election was heralded by some political commentators as a close one partly because of the victory of the Conservative candidate in last year’s Uxbridge by-election which was supposedly fought—and lost—on Khan’s expansion of London’s ultra-low emissions zone (ULEZ). (The inner London ULEZ was started by Khan’s predecessor, Boris Johnson.)
Hall’s campaign majored on one issue: scrapping ULEZ.
Clearly, clean air was more important to Londoners. Elections expert Professor Sir John Curtice told the BBC that opposition to ULEZ did not “have a significant impact on the result of the mayoral election.”
Hall had also promised to rid London of its low traffic neighborhoods (LTNs).
Khan won on 44% of the vote with Hall on 33%. This represents a swing of 2.5% from Conservative to Labour since 2021.
Khan is chair of C40 Cities, a global network of almost 100 major cities that are taking action during the climate crisis.
C40 Cities’ executive director Mark Watts called Khan’s victory “stunning” and that it “should demonstrate to those who doubted, that strong action to stop pollution can be popular.”
With Khan’s victory the Tory culture war of putting motorists ahead of cyclists, pedestrians and public transit users looks to be dead in the water, say campaigners.
Hirra Khan Adeogun, co-director of climate charity Possible said: “This is an emphatic victory for clean air and climate action.”
She added: “While some candidates try to turn basic public health policy into a culture war, this result is yet more proof that the public stands behind leaders who want to do more to clean up our air, calm down our roads and deliver real climate action.”
Also welcoming the news of Khan winning in London was Henry Gregg, Director of External Affairs, Asthma + Lung UK: “With Sadiq Khan’s re-election, London now needs the mayor to go further to protect the half a million Londoners who live with a lung condition. He must be bolder and do more by helping to support Londoners’ shift to cleaner forms of transport.
“Despite tangible improvements to the capital’s bus system over the past year, better provision of frequent, accessible, and affordable public transport across London is needed. It’s important the emergency brake on air pollution is applied, so that many lives can be saved.”
Jemima Hartshorn, founder director of Mums for Lungs also pitched in: “It is clear: Londoners want clean air for healthy kids. Winning a historic third term comes with a strong brief for Sadiq: Continue reducing air pollution for all of us.”
