Labour Party’s Sadiq Khan won a third term as London’s Mayor despite predictions that lower voter turnout would harm him. With the Mayoral constituency results declared on Saturday afternoon, Mr Khan easily won with a 43.8% vote share compared to his main opponent, Susan Hall, a Conservative Party candidate who got 32.7% votes. Khan won nine out of fourteen constituencies and a vote margin of more than 2,76,000 votes.
‘Fairer, safer and greener London’
The Conservatives did not see a vote swing towards them in some constituencies, but they lost some to labour in others. In the inner borough of Southwark and Lambeth, there was a vote swing towards the Labour Party.
Susan Hall campaigned to increase the number of police and move to more localized policies. Khan campaigned to continue providing free meals to primary schools, increase police personnel and freeze certain public transport fares.
In his victory speech, Khan promised to make a “fairer, safer and greener London.” He said that by his campaign he answered, “fearmongering with facts.”
Khan’s report card
Increasing polarization
There have been several instances where the religious divide has increased, and people are coming to the streets obstructing normal daily lives. There have been increased instances of rioting and stone pelting in London showing increasing signs of Islamization in the city. New videos keep propping up of people stopping crowds to pray in public. Friday prayers on the streets are becoming more common and public displays of religious fundamentalism are growing concerns in the time of Sadiq Khan.
In Leicester, the riots during summer between the Hindus and Muslims was another incident.
The U.K. has also been a hub for Islamic activity; a refuge for political Islamists, and a base for fundraising and recruitment.
London’s congested roads
In a report by supplier Inrix, the city spent on average 156 hours stuck in traffic during 2022. It was the second year in a row that the capital topped the ranking, which doesn’t cover India and China.
Researchers also found that the UK’s five most congested roads were in London. The most severely congested corridor was the A219 southbound from Fulham to Morden – a major route out of the capital – on which drivers lost an average of 47 hours last year.
Though tackling road traffic was always an issue. The same promise was made in 2016 with a series of measures to solve the problem but little change has been seen to date.
‘epidemic of violence against women’
Violence against women has just kept increasing and the administration has been working to do something about it. The Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, knows this. “What we’ve got across the country is an epidemic of violence against women and girls,”, he said.
He also put forward a 10-point plan to solve the problem which includes supporting victims with free legal advice, a rollout activity of activity and education to tackle misogyny in schools and driving up conviction rates.
“We’re already funding independent domestic violence advisors, we’re already funding independent sexual violence advisors. But there’s a gap,” says Khan. “We’ve recognised that – even though we’ve made big improvements.”
“When it comes to designing the public realm, I think, for a variety of reasons, the designers tend to be blokes,” explains Khan, “whose experiences are very different to the experiences of women and girls. I think that at the design phase, we should be taking on board the views of women and girls when it comes to how well-lit a street is, which bus stops should have CCTV, and which transport routes should have more staff present.”
Labour Party’s win
There have been several changes in the way London is today and a large Muslim population has given support to Sadiq Khan, unlike several other Labour candidates, say many people a reason for his re-election.
The national identity of London has changed for many people to become a religious identity. The re-election comes with several promises and now only time will tell what the future of London looks like.
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