Election results 2021: Sadiq Khan wins second term as London’s mayor - and pledges to heal ‘damaging divisions'

Labour’s Sadiq Khan has been re-elected as Mayor of London, beating Conservative rival Shaun Bailey.

It was announced that Mr Khan has won a second term as London’s mayor at 11pm on Saturday (8 May), with 1,206,034 votes after second preferences were taken into account, compared to Mr Bailey at 977,601.

Mr Khan was first elected mayor of the capital in 2016 in a landslide victory which broke the Conservatives’ eight-year hold on City Hall.

The results come as the Labour Party lost control of a host of councils in England’s local elections, as well as a defeat in the Hartlepool by-election.

‘We simply must use this moment of national recovery to heal these damaging divisions’

In his victory speech, Mr Khan pledged to build a “better and brighter future” for the capital following the Covid pandemic.

He also said it was a time for the country to “heal” following divisions such as Brexit, as he added: “The results of the elections around the UK show that our country – and even our city – remain deeply divided”.

Mr Khan said “The scars of Brexit are yet to heal, a crude culture war is pushing us further apart, there’s a growing gap between our cities and towns.

“And economic inequality is getting worse – both within London and between different parts of our country.

“So as we now seek to confront the enormity of the challenge ahead and as we endeavour to rebuild from this pandemic, we simply must use this moment of national recovery to heal these damaging divisions.”

Conservative candidate Mr Bailey said in a speech: “As I went through these, for me what was two years of campaigning, one feeling felt familiar to me, one challenge had always felt the same.

“And that was the feeling of being written off – by pollsters, by journalists, by fellow politicians.

“But it’s no surprise to me that Londoners didn’t write me off.”