How Sadiq Khan came out on top during London mayor election

It's easy to say now, but Sadiq Khan was always going to retain London's mayoralty. The low turnout figures yesterday sparked speculation of a shock Susan Hall victory, leaving Labour genuinely worried about the prospect of a very close result. But there turned out to be quite the gap in the end.

Ms Hall's campaign was focused on two things, the ULEZ expansion and crime. It seems Londoners were not convinced by her promises to reform the Metropolitan Police Service with an emphasis on borough-based, neighbourhood policing.

There was also a pledge of more police officers. But Sadiq Khan focused on 'tackling the causes of crime', also promising more police for good measure.

READ MORE: How every London borough voted in mayor elections after Sadiq Khan's win

The Tory candidate told Outer Londoners that voting for her was their last chance to scrap the ULEZ expansion, brought in in August. But, it looks like she and her team overestimated residents' distaste for the scheme.

It is certainly there - just look at the number of enforcement cameras vandalised and the many protests - but recent polling by Redfield and Wilton Strategies suggested in April that 50 per cent of Londoners now say that they support the existence of the ULEZ in London.

Only 31 per cent, it was found, oppose it. This represents a level of support of +19 per cent. Mr Khan has told me many a time that the 'silent majority' of residents are on his side. I imagine he would say that today's result proved him right.

Ms Hall also again and again insisted that Mr Khan was planning to introduce a pay-per-mile system across roads. It seems that Mr Khan's promise that he'd 'never' do so worked.

Not all sunshine and daisies for the red team

But, it was not all sunshine and daisies for the red team, as Ms Hall achieved expected wins in Outer London, such as in Bexley and Bromley, where there is a lot of Tory support, plus Ealing and Hillingdon, where Tory Steve Tuckwell beat Labour in the Uxbridge and South Ruislip by-election last year, amongst others.

This was despite turnout being relatively high in areas that Ms Hall's team had their eyes on. The release of these figures on Friday sparked rumours of a narrow Conservative victory in the city.

There was an opportunity for the Tories to come out on top - especially considering knife crime figures, revealing a rise of 20 per cent in London over the past year, released this week. A member of the audience at City Hall even shouted 'crime' as the mayor was listing his priorities for four more years.

But it seems that the Conservatives' attempt to win the mayoralty never really got off the ground.

Follow our live updates of the elections here.

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