Sadiq Khan wins London mayor race, BBC forecasts

Labour's Sadiq Khan will be re-elected as Mayor of London for a third term, according to BBC's polling expert Professor Sir John Curtice.

Six out of eight London constituencies have been declared, including two gains for Labour from the Conservatives.

The BBC anticipates the outcome in terms of votes will approximately be 43% for Mr Khan and 33% for his Tory rival Susan Hall.

This would represent a swing of 2.5% from Tory to Labour.

Voter turnout was 40.5% in the mayoral contest, down 1.5% overall from 2021.

Counting started at 09:00 BST on Saturday morning and remains ongoing in six other London constituencies.

A final result is not expected until Saturday evening.

So far, Mr Khan has won in Merton & Wandsworth, Greenwich & Lewisham, Enfield & Haringey and North East, where he won at the last contest in 2021.

He also gained West Central from the Conservatives, with a 5.2% swing to Labour from the Tories and South West from the Tories with a 2.71% swing.

Ms Hall has held the outer London boroughs of Bexley & Bromley and Brent & Harrow.

On Thursday votes were also cast for a London Assembly constituency member and a London Assembly London-wide member.

Ms Hall has vowed to scrap the Ultra Low Emission Zone (Ulez) in outer London and tackle violent crime.

She said there was "a clear choice between being ignored for another four years by Sadiq Khan, or electing a new mayor who listens".

Among 10 key pledges, Mr Khan is offering a one-year Transport for London (TfL) fare freeze and four years of free school meals for seven to 11-year-old primary pupils.

Speaking at City Hall ahead of the official results, London Assembly's Labour group leader Len Duvall effectively called the election result for Mr Khan.

Mr Duvall told the Local Democracy Reporting Service: "I think the trends are there. I think this looks like Sadiq has crossed the line and has got a third term."

He believes Liberal Democrat and Green voters appear to have "lent" their support on the mayoral ballot to Mr Khan, while Reform UK took votes from the Conservatives.