LONDON – Incumbent London Mayor Sadiq Khan has won a second term in office, beating his Conservative rival Shaun Bailey, following the local elections held last week, the media reported on Sunday.
“I will always be a Mayor for all Londoners, working to improve the lives of every single person in this city,” the BBC quoted the 51-year-old Labour Party member, first elected as Mayor in 2016, was quoted as saying after the results were declared on Saturday night.
“The results of the elections around the UK shows our country, and even our city, remains deeply divided.
“The scars of Brexit have yet to heal. A crude culture war is pushing us further apart,” he added.
He won 55.2 per cent of the popular vote, after entering a run-off with Bailey when neither managed to secure a majority in the first round of voting, the BBC report said.
“Economic inequality is getting worse both within London and in different parts of our country.
“As we seek to confront the enormity of the challenge ahead, and as we endeavour to rebuild from this pandemic, we must use this moment of national recovery to heal those damaging divisions,” Khan, also the first Muslim mayor of an European capital city, added.
Labour continues its dominance in the capital, remaining the largest party on the London Assembly.
Labour took nine constituency seats, with the Conservatives winning the remaining five. -IANS
