Labour has declared victory in London as it expects candidate Sadiq Khan to be re-elected as the Mayor of London.
The full results are not yet in but Mr Khan has won four out of fourteen of the wards in the capital. The Tory candidate Susan Hall is expected to come second.
Murmurs on Friday evening suggested the result may be closer than initially thought, as Mr Khan’s majority was expected to be hit by dissatisfaction with the Ulez scheme and the Labour party’s stance on Gaza.
Pat McFadden, a senior member of Keir Starmer’s shadow cabinet, admitted that the party’s stance on Gaza, and Sir Keir’s support for Israel, had affected votes, saying that with “so many innocent people being killed I’m not surprised people have strong feelings about that”.
Yet it looks like Mr Khan has achieved a significant proportion of the vote share, with Ms Hall trailing behind.
The Tory candidate’s campaign has also been mired by controversy amid allegations of islamophobia.
Shadow health secretary Wes Streeting provoked ire when he said that a win for Ms Hall and the Conservatives is “a win for racists, white supremacists and Islamophobes the world over.”
Mr Streeting was referring to Ms Hall joining a Facebook group that contained Islamophobic hate speech and abusive comments about her opponent.
Former Conservative party chair and peer Sayeeda Warsi also criticised Ms Hall and accused the party of “gutter politics”.
Baroness Warsi – who served as Tory chair between 2010 and 2012 – said on X/Twitter: “Why is it that with every London Mayoral election we manage to find a candidate worse than the last and manage to sink that little bit more into gutter politics.
“Look @andy4wm [Tory West Midlands mayor Andy Street] and learn @Conservatives – how inclusive and decent politics can be done. Be more #Street and less #Susan.”
It comes as Rishi Sunak suffered a terrible first day of council election results with the prime minister now nervously waiting on the result from the West Midlands mayoral contest.
Yet despite the disappointing results, plans of a coup have failed to materialise with one senior MP telling the Independent: “I think it is over. Rishi will lead us into the next election.”
Election expert Sir John Curtice suggested the final outcome could be the party’s worst performance for 40 years.
Lord Ben Houchen’s re-election on Teesside was a crumb of comfort for the Conservatives on a dreadful night, just months from a general election.
Attention now turns to the mayoral contest in the West Midlands, where a win for Tory Andy Street could help stop a leadership plot from rebel MPs.
More follows on this breaking story…
