Labor Sadiq Khan was re-elected as mayor of London on Saturday May 4, becoming the first to obtain a third term in the British capital, several British media announced following the vote count.
Sadiq Khan received more than a million votes (43.8% of the votes cast), more than eleven points more than his Conservative Party competitor, Susan Hall (32.7%).
At 53, this son of Pakistani immigrants, the first Muslim to lead the London capital, exceeds the two mandates served by his predecessor and former Prime Minister Boris Johnson.
For his first term, he vigorously fought Brexit. This time, he promised a city that was “fairer, safer, greener for everyone.” He wants to expand his free lunch program for public school children. He, who grew up in social housing, is committed to ensuring that 40,000 new social housing units are built. He promised to take action to ensure that there were no more homeless people in London by 2030.
This man with salt-and-pepper hair and a small height of 1.65 m is considered not very charismatic. Which did not prevent him from becoming the bête noire of the conservative press and the Tories, in power in the United Kingdom since 2010. They relentlessly attack him on security. They accuse him of being responsible for the increase in stabbing attacks, a scourge that Sadiq Khan attributes for his part to the austerity policy of conservative governments which would have led to a reduction in police numbers.
Sadiq Khan’s opponents accuse him of having extended last year to greater London the tax on polluting vehicles, introduced in 2015 by Boris Johnson. The Conservatives jumped on this opportunity, accusing Sadiq Khan of having little regard for Londoners suffering from the cost of living crisis.
