London Labour Mayor Sadiq Khan wins as party counts local gains

As the British Conservatives’ losses in local elections mounted, London’s Mayor, Sadiq Khan, was re-elected but a mooted Tory revolt against Rishi Sunak fizzled for now.

Mayor of London Sadiq Khan and Labour Opposition Leader Sir Keir Starmer. Picture: Leon Neal/Getty Images

London’s Labour Mayor, Sadiq Khan, has won an historic third term despite fears within the party that its support for Israel in the Gaza war would cost it vital backing in Muslim-strong areas of the city as results continued to be announced after the week’s local elections in England and Wales.

Sky News UK projected early Sunday AEST that Mr Khan would win despite predictions of a possible low Labour turnout.

Later the final results showed Mr Khan with 1,088,225 votes (43.8 per cent), a majority of nearly 276,000 over Conservative rival Susan Hall, who secured 812,397 votes (32.7 per cent). They were well ahead of several other candidates.

The BBC said Mr Khan won nine of the 14 London constituencies including two gains from the Tories after more than 2.4 million votes were cast in a turnout of 42.8 per cent, slightly down on the 2021 mayoral election.

Mr Khan becomes the first third-term mayor, with Mr Khan’s predecessors Boris Johnson and Ken Livingstone both having served two terms.

Mr Khan said after the result his campaign has been “one that rejects right hard-wing populism and looks forward, not back’’.

“We faced a campaign of non-stop negativity but I could not be more proud that we answered fearmongering with facts, hate with hope and attempts to divide with efforts to unite.’’

Ms Hall said what mattered now was “reforming the Met [Metropolitan Police, under mayoral control] and making London safe again. I hope Sadiq makes this his top priority. He owes it to the families of those thousand people who have lost lives to knife crime under his mayoralty.’’

By Saturday night as counting for 107 councils in England neared a finish, the Tories had lost 396 councillors, while Labour had gained 231, the Liberal Democrats 97 and Greens 64, the London Telegraph reported.

Labour also ousted the most prominent Conservative mayor outside London. Tory incumbent Andy Street suffered a shock defeat in the West Midlands mayoral election. Labour’s Richard Parker beat Mr Street by 1508 votes, or 0.25 per cent.

As the results came in, Labour Opposition Leader Sir Keir Starmer said: “This is effectively the last stop on the journey to the general election and I am really pleased to be able to show we are making progress, we have earned the trust and confidence of voters and we are making progress towards that general election.’’

But Sky News UK said its analysis of England-wide results showed areas with a Muslim population above 20 per cent saw Labour lose 17.9 points from its previous vote share. Greens, independents and the Galloway Workers party made gains.

Earlier The Times reported Prime Minister Rishi Sunak had seen off an attempt by Tory rebels to remove him from office despite a “disappointing” set of results that suggested Sir Keir was on course for No 10.

The Tories are expected to lose almost half of the councillors who were up for re-election, having ceded control in key electoral battlegrounds. Experts said the local election results could be among the Tories’ worst in 40 years.

The Conservatives also lost a parliamentary by-election in Blackpool South with a 26-point swing against them – the third highest in postwar history – in a contest where Reform UK won 17 per cent of the vote.

An analysis of the local election results by Sir John Curtice, the leading election expert, suggested that they would translate into a nine-point lead for Labour as a share of the national vote.

The Tories would be on 25 points, a joint record low. Sir John said that Labour’s lead was the same as it was last year, suggesting that the Tories had failed to make “inroads” while tactical voting continued to hurt them.

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, right, and victorious Tees Valley Conservative Mayor Ben Houchen after the latter secured a third term in office in the Tees Valley local elections. Picture: Getty Images

There was better news for Mr Sunak as Mayor Ben Houchen held off Labour in the symbolically important red-wall heartland of Tees Valley, although his 12-point margin of victory was significantly lower than the 45-point gap in 2021.

The Conservatives had been confident of Mr Street retaining the West Midlands mayoralty, amid signs that an independent candidate backed by George Galloway had cost Labour a significant number of votes in Birmingham.

The result in Tees Valley was enough to see off an attempt to remove Mr Sunak from office and replace him with the fifth Tory prime minister in the space of five years.

The prime minister’s critics no longer believe they will get the 52 letters of no confidence needed to trigger a vote on his future. “He owns this now,” one rebel said. “They got what they wanted. Let’s see how it turns out.”

Elsewhere the picture was less encouraging, with the Tories losing the New York and North Yorkshire mayoral seat that covers Mr Sunak’s own constituency. Labour also won the inaugural mayoralty races in the North East and East Midlands.

The party won against a strong independent challenge from the left in the former, while comfortably beating the Conservatives in the latter, a key general election battleground.

Mr Sunak said that while “it’s disappointing to lose good, hardworking Conservative councillors” he was “focused completely on the job at hand – that’s delivering for people across the country”.

He said that Mr Houchen’s victory was down to “levelling up in action” and that “come the general election [voters] are going to stick with us too, because they don’t want to be taken for granted”.

On a visit to North Yorkshire, Opposition Leader Sir Keir hailed his party’s victory in the “heart of Tory territory”, adding that “really good results across the country” showed that “people are fed up with a failed government”.

However, he admitted being concerned about Labour’s performance in areas with large Muslim populations after losing council seats in Oldham, Blackburn and Rochdale, where Mr Galloway’s Workers Party of Britain gained two councillors. “Obviously I’m concerned wherever we lose votes and we intend to win any votes we’ve lost back,” Sir Keir said.

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer takes a 'selfie' with a supporter as he appears at event to celebrate the victory of the new Labour Mayor for York and North Yorkshire David Skaith. Picture: Getty Images

Labour claimed victory in a string of councils in areas that will be vital swing seats in a general election, including Hartlepool in the north, Nuneaton, Redditch and Cannock Chase in the Midlands and Thurrock and Milton Keynes in the south.

However, the party failed to take the bellwether town of Harlow in Essex, which had been singled out by Sir Keir as a key target before Thursday’s vote.

Sir John Curtice said the day’s results showed a clear pattern of anti-Tory tactical voting, with Mr Houchen’s victory owing “more to his personal popularity than that of his party”.

He wrote for The Times: “The real votes in the local ballot boxes affirm the consistent message of the opinion polls that Rishi Sunak has failed to make significant progress in his quest to narrow Labour’s lead.”

He said the Conservatives “have been losing slightly more than half the seats they are trying to defend and the final figure may yet be close to 500”.

The Tory vote was down most in areas where it was previously winning, while Labour and the Liberal Democrats saw their biggest gains in areas where they were previously second to the Conservatives.

“Voters have seemingly voted tactically for whichever party seems best placed to defeat the Conservatives locally,” he said.

Rishi Sunak after the Tees Valley mayoral election count in Darlington, England. Picture: Getty Images

Shortly before midday on Friday the Tory rebels gave up and headed for the pub. After months of plotting to remove Mr Sunak from office they conceded that there was simply not enough appetite to defenestrate the fourth Tory prime minister in five years. “He owns this now,” one rebel said. “They got what they wanted. Let’s see how it turns out.”

On any reading Friday’s election results were dire for the Conservatives. In the Blackpool South by-election, Labour enjoyed one of the biggest swings in postwar history, with the Tories only narrowly avoiding being pushed into third by Reform.

In the local elections the party appeared to be on course to lose as many as 500 councillors in what was described as the worst performance by the Conservatives for more than 40 years.

A poll of Tory activists for the Conservative Home website found that more than 60 per cent of activists backed Sunak’s continued leadership.

Asked what message he would give to Tory MPs as they analysed the results, one cabinet minister quoted Rudyard Kipling. “Be thankful you’re living … trust to your luck and march to your front like a soldier,” Andrew Mitchell, the deputy foreign secretary, said.

Earlier this week, before the results, Mr Sunak gave his frankest acknowledgment of how gruelling it is to be prime minister. “It is a difficult time to be doing this and there’s no point pretending otherwise,” he told Sunrise Radio, a station for British Asians.

He finds strength in his Hindu faith. “You are here to do your duty, and you need to do it to the fullest of your ability. And you need – this is the hardest bit – you need to just detach yourself from the outcome,” he said.

Mr Sunak must order a general election be held by January 28 next year at the latest, and has said he is planning on a poll in the second half of 2024.

Writing in Saturday’s Daily Telegraph, Mr Sunak conceded the returns showed “voters are frustrated” but insisted “Labour is not winning in places they admit they need for a majority”.

“We Conservatives have everything to fight for,” Mr Sunak concluded.

With The Times