Sadiq Khan won a third consecutive term as mayor of London, crowning local elections in England that confirmed the political supremacy of the Labor Party, a blow to the British conservative government.
Khan won 43.7% of the vote, defeating Conservative challenger Susan Hall by around 11 percentage points, extending his control of the capital, which began in 2016.
It comes after a string of victories for Labour, who are firmly positioned to wrest power from Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and his Conservatives in the general election.
The Conservatives lost control of 10 local councils and almost 500 councilors on Thursday, suffering an electoral defeat that virtually everyone, including those within the party, expected.
“I'm sorry, I don't care which political party you support, if you leave your country in a worse state than you found it 14 years later, you don't deserve to be in government for another term,” Labor leader Keir Starmer told reporters this Saturday (4).
But Sunak has probably won enough victories to withstand a challenge to his leadership, something the Tory rebels have threatened depending on the outcome of Thursday's election.
The party had hoped to retain the mayor's post in the West Midlands on Saturday after securing the same position in the Tees Valley, giving the increasingly beleaguered premier something to cling to as he seeks to at least unify his lawmakers at Westminster.
“Rehearsal” before the general elections
Thursday's elections marked a “final rehearsal” before general elections, which are expected to take place in January 2025.
Sunak has resisted calls to define when he will hold that vote, and the Labor Party leads opinion polls by a huge margin.
Starmer's opposition party won control of eight councils and victory in the Westminster by-election in Blackpool.
The results confirmed the polls, which indicated that the group is on the right track to gain power, although Labor did not achieve the “red wave” that some members expected, falling short in some of the most complicated contests it faced.
And there were also indications that discontent over the party's stance on Israel's war in Gaza has hurt Labor among voters in areas with large Muslim populations.
In particular, the loss of the council of Oldham, a northwest English town where around a quarter of the population is Muslim.
“We recognize the strength of feeling that exists and, of course, we will continue to work as we do in all areas of the country to win back votes in the future,” Labor Home Secretary Yvette Cooper told the BBC.
First London mayor to win third term
Khan will become the first London mayor to serve a third term since the role was created in 2000.
The city, home to 9 million people, is more multicultural, liberal and pro-European than the UK as a whole, which has caused Khan to clash with Labor leaders, especially over the issue of Brexit.
He prioritized policies to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in an effort to end the city's reputation as a major polluter, and made international headlines during a long public spat with former US President Donald Trump during his administration.
But critics have attacked the record on knife crime under the Khan administration and his recent expansion of a world-first low-emissions zone, which Conservatives say would hit poorer families on the outskirts of London hardest.
Source: CNN Brasil
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