Labour’s Sadiq Khan has won his third term as Mayor of London after beating Conservative Opposition Susan Hall. YouGov Polling before Thursday 2nd of May suggested that Sadiq Khan would beat Susan Hall by 22%. Sadiq Khan won 11.1% and secured 1,088,285 votes, compared to Susan Hall’s 812,397 votes. 

The Liberal Democrats and the Green Party both accumulated 145,000 votes in the Mayoral Election. Green and Liberal Democrat voting was reduced from the 2021 Mayoral election by about 50,000 votes. Sadiq Khan’s Ultra Low Emission Zone policy, seeking to remove and reduce driving within London, was popular with the Greens and influenced some Green voters to vote for Khan. ULEZ charges £12.50 for cars that are non-compliant with C02 emissions and target old cars. 

Knife crime and ULEZ were the two primary points of concern among voters. Sadiq Khan pledges to put more than 1,000 new police officers on the streets to combat this issue. Khan still insists ULEZ is the right policy moving forward to net zero by 2030. In 2022, before Greater London ULEZ, the tax raised £224 million.  

Council Elections

The Conservatives lost 473 seats in Councils and lost control of 10 councils. This election mainly comprises councils in the North of England. 

Voting system Change

After the Elections Act 2022, the London Mayoral Election used the “first past the post” system where there is one ballot and the person with the most votes wins. Previously, the “Supplementary vote” system was used where 2 votes would occur, with your 2 preferences. If in the first ballot, no candidate had an over 50% majority, then it would go to the second ballot between the two largest candidates.

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