PA
It’s all kicking off! Two of the biggest Mayoral Elections in the UK have been under the microscope on Saturday – and one, if not two results, are likely compound a disastrous week for the Tories.
It has been a chaotic few days at Conservative HQ. Almost 500 Councillors of theirs have been voted out of office during the Local Elections, with voters flocking to alternative parties in the process.
However, the dust has settled in London, where Sadiq Khan has fended-off the challenge from Susan Hall. The Labour incumbent beat the Tory challenger by a margin of more than 11%. Khan earned 43.8% of the vote, with Hall claiming 32.7%.
It puts a pin in some of the rumours which emerged on social media yesterday, suggesting that Hall had pulled off a near-miraculous victory over Khan. However, these unfounded claims have been quashed in the official count.
In fact, Sadiq Khan has increased his percentage of the vote from the previous Mayoral Elections, growing his share of support by 3.8%. The Conservatives have seen their total number of backers shrink by 2.6%.
Where one election has been decided, another threatens to descend into chaos. Andy Street, the Conservative incumbent mayor in the West Midlands, now finds himself in a race that is ‘too close to call’.
Ballots have been requested for a recount in Coventry – at the request of Street’s team. Labour weren’t all that optimistic about displacing the Tory representative in these elections, but the situation remains on a knife-edge as we head into the evening.
Swings toward Labour in Wolverhampton (+9%) and Solihull (+5%) have put the Tories in a precarious position, and the Labour candidate Richard Parker is now in with a genuine chance of pulling of a surprise victory.
