Sadiq Khan faces an anxious wait to find out if he will be re-elected as London mayor amid fears about low turnout and anger over his flagship motoring policy and Labour’s stance on Gaza.
Mr Khan is still the favourite to win against his Conservative opponent Susan Hall, when the results are revealed on Saturday.
But with just two hours to go before voting closed on Thursday night, he released an impassioned plea on social media warning that “low numbers of people voting” meant the “real risk” of Tory victory.
Labour has significantly stepped up its campaign against Ms Hall in recent days.
She only became her party’s candidate after its first pick, Daniel Korski, was forced to drop out amid groping allegations.
But she has come under fire for joining a Facebook group which contained Islamophobic hate speech and abusive comments about her opponent.
A former Tory cabinet minister, Sayeeda Warsi accused her of “gutter politics” in her controversial campaign.
Shadow health secretary Wes Streeting said a win for her would be one for “racists, white supremacists and Islamophobes the world over.”
His stance was defended by former Labour MP and ex- Europe minister Denis MacShane who, asked if Ms Hall was a white supremacist, said “she comes pretty close”.
But Mr MacShane added that he had been surprised at the hostility in the city toward Mr Khan over his controversial charging policy for the most polluting cars, Ulez.
A new poll, conducted by More in Common for the Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit (ECIU), found 13 per cent of voters said Ulez was a big issue in this election, compared to 45 per cent who selected affordable housing and 36 per cent who mentioned crime.
However, Tory insiders believe with turnout low frustrated motorists will have been more likely to vote.
In local election results on Friday Labour saw a fall in support in some areas with large Muslim populations, while the party’s elections co-ordinator Pat McFadden admitted the impact of the war in Gaza was “an issue in some parts of the country and I think there’s no point in me … denying that’s the case.”
However, pollster and Tory peer Lord Hayward has predicted Mr Khan is likely to avoid a backlash over Gaza, after he broke ranks early in the conflict to call for a ceasefire.
To add to Labour nerves a poll on Wednesday showed Mr Khan’s lead over Ms Hall had shrunk to its smallest since the campaign began.
The Savanta survey put the Labour mayor on 42 per cent and his Tory rival on 32 per cent.
Changes in the rules for this election mean Mr Khan’s vote cannot be ‘topped up’ by second preference votes, which helped him win by a large margin last time around.
Counting will not begin until Saturday, after Friday was set aside to verify ballot papers .
