The West Midlands mayoral result is going down to the wire; Sadiq Khan wins an historic third term as mayor of London.
Saturday 4 May 2024 19:31, UK
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Sky News estimates Labour needs to lead the Tories by 16.3 percentage points in Sandwell to win the West Midlands mayoralty.
That’s more than double their lead in Sandwell at the previous mayoral election in 2021, when they led by 7.7 points (on first preferences).
We’ll bring you the declaration as soon as we have it.
London mayor Sadiq Khan has been speaking to the media after winning re-election.
He has won an historic third term – the first time the feat has been achieved in London.
When asked if this will be his final term, he said: “Let’s wait and see.”
Mr Khan – a Liverpool fan – adds that when Mo Salah scores a hat-trick he doesn’t think about a fourth, he “waits and enjoys the hat-trick”.
Asked what the win means for him personally, Mr Khan says “it really isn’t about making history, it is about shaping the future of our city”.
“What excites me the most this year is working with a Labour government,” he says.
“The message from this election in London and across the country is it’s time for Rishi [Sunak] to call a general election.”
Sky’s deputy political editor Sam Coates says the most interesting race to declare so far today has been the London mayoralty, where Sadiq Khan won a historic third term.
Sam says he can’t remember a time when the Conservatives were more happy than after the Uxbridge by-election, where they “spotted a possible way of winning” by campaigning against the ULEZ congestion charge and pulled back from environmental measures.
He says they thought that, plus a strong campaign against Sadiq Khan “actually had a strong chance of winning”.
But in the end, Mr Khan “cruised back into office”.
“And so if the Tories last year thought they had got a template for running, perhaps rolling out a bigger campaign, maybe nationally, based on some of those principles, it doesn’t look like that worked in in London at all,” Sam says.
Labour candidate Richard Parker finished top in the area with 32,704 votes.
Incumbent Tory Andy Street was second with 23,237.
Mr Street still has an overall lead – of 11,455 votes – but it’s getting tighter.
The West Midlands mayoral race “really is going down to the wire,” political editor Beth Rigby says.
We are still waiting for the final two voting areas to report, with the result currently too close to call.
Incumbent Conservative Andy Street leads Labour candidate Richard Barker by 20,922 votes or 4.5 points.
We’re awaiting the results from Coventry – where a recount has been ordered – and Sandwell.
Beth says they are typically Labour areas.
Saturday’s mayoral races
Sadiq Khan has secured an historic third term as mayor of London.
Andy Burnham has been easily re-elected as mayor of Greater Manchester, getting more than 60% of the vote.
The party has also won the West Yorkshire, Liverpool City Region, South Yorkshire and Salford races.
There is just one mayoral race outstanding – the West Midlands.
With five of seven areas reporting, it remains too close to call between Tory incumbent Andy Street and his Labour challenger.
Friday’s mayoral contests
The Tories won Tees Valley mayoralty, with Lord Ben Houchen winning, despite a big swing to Labour.
But that is where the good news ended for the government.
Labour took the North East mayoralty, defeating a former Labour mayor turned independent.
The opposition also won the brand new mayoralty of East Midlands, and emerged victorious in York and North Yorkshire – a region that encompasses Rishi Sunak’s own constituency.
You can follow the results in full here:
Councils
Labour has netted 185 seats and a further eight councils in what has been a very positive set of elections for the opposition.
The Liberal Democrats have won more council seats in England than the Conservatives. They’ve netted another 104 seats and control of one additional council in a strong set of results.
The Conservatives have had a disastrous set of elections, losing 473 councillors so far, as well as control of 12 councils.
The Green Party has netted an extra 74 seats, making serious gains in places like Bristol where it hopes to win another parliamentary seat at the general election.
There is now just one of the 107 council results left to declare.
A special weekend edition of our politics show Politics Hub With Sophy Ridge is live now on Sky News.
The fast-paced programme dissects the inner workings of Westminster, with interviews, insights, and analysis – bringing you, the audience, into the corridors of power.
Tonight’s episode is a local elections special.
On her panel tonight are:
Watch Politics Hub With Sophy Ridge from Monday to Thursday on Sky channel 501, Virgin channel 602, Freeview channel 233, on the Sky News website and app or on YouTube.
The Conservative Party can’t just “moan” about Sadiq Khan, Tory MP Paul Scully has said, after the London mayor won a historic third term.
Mr Scully, who put himself forward to be the Conservative candidate for mayor of London, told Sky News the Tories must instead articulate a “positive vision”.
The former London minister said the selection process for the Conservative candidate was “really quite dysfunctional”.
“What we’ve ended up with is just a campaign where we just had people moaning about Sadiq Khan – and there’s plenty to moan about.
“But we can’t just rely on a negative campaign, standing alongside people wagging a finger and throwing rotten fruit at him.
“You’ve got to be on the stage, articulating a positive vision.”
Our lead politics presenter Sophy Ridge asks him whether that sentiment is just “sour grapes” after he failed to make the shortlist to be Conservative candidate.
“No,” he replied.
“If we just are running a sort of core vote strategy in somewhere like London, you’re going to end up with your core vote, which is pretty well what we’ve ended up with,” he said.
With two voting areas left to report, the West Midlands race really is too close to call.
Conservative Andy Street leads Labour candidate Richard Barker by 20,922 votes or 4.5 points.
We’re awaiting the results from Coventry and Sandwell.
The fact that the Tory incumbent is in contention for the West Midlands mayoral race shows the Conservative Party shouldn’t be “written off” ahead of the next election, Tory MP and deputy foreign secretary Andrew Mitchell tells Sky News.
Mr Mitchell says the West Midlands is an area “Labour have to win and win well in order to be in government”.
So, he says the fact Andy Street is in contention to win the mayoral race shows the Conservative Party are “doing very well here”.
“It also shows that those who have written off the next election for the Conservatives are pre-judging the voters’ intentions,” he says.
The Conservative Party has suffered its worst local election result in years, losing more than half of its councillors who stood for re-election across England.
Should Mr Street be defeated in his high-profile West Midlands race, Sky News political editor Beth Rigby asks Mr Mitchell whether the party would move against the prime minister.
He says he is confident they would not, saying it would be “self-indulgence of a very high order indeed for anyone to try to do that”.
“We need to unite behind the prime minister,” he says.
The West Midlands mayoral race is currently on a knife edge with five of the seven results now in.
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