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Evening Standard
Evening Standard
World
Ross Lydall

Sadiq Khan to seek historic third term as London mayor

Sadiq Khan has been reselected as Labour’s mayoral candidate and will bid to win a historic third term at City Hall in 2024, it was announced on Tuesday.

Mr Khan, who was first elected mayor in 2016 and re-elected last year, said it would be a “very tough election” but added: “There’s still so much more to do.”

He had repeatedly denied that he planned to abandon City Hall and return to Westminster, where he had been an MP for 11 years until 2016, describing the London mayoralty as the “best job in the world”.

He said the May 2024 poll – which will be contested under a traditional first-past-the-post ballot rather than a two-vote system for the first time - would be an opportunity for Londoners to “send a message to the Tories” about the state of the economy.

“I’m more determined than ever to use all the experience and knowledge I’ve gained as mayor to deliver on the issues that matter to Londoners, including supporting them through the cost-of-living crisis,” he said.

“It’s going to be a very tough election – the first using a first past the post voting system in London and the new voter ID rules that appear deliberately designed to disenfranchise minority communities and disproportionately affect Labour voters.”

Ken Livingstone and Boris Johnson each served two consecutive four-year terms as mayor but Mr Khan would become the first to serve a third term if he secures victory. The Conservatives have yet to select a candidate.

It came ahead of a parliamentary debate this afternoon on Mr Khan’s decision to expand the ultra-low emission zone across Greater London from next August.

Hillingdon, Harrow, Bexley, and Croydon councils all oppose the expansion and 29 Tory MPs including former Prime Minister Boris Johnson signed a letter asking for it to be cancelled.

They described it was a “smash and grab raid on drivers’ wallets that has nothing to do with air quality and everything to do with Mr Khan’s mismanagement of TfL’s funds”.

But Mr Khan said the Ulez, which was launched in central London in April 2019, had been “transformational”. He said: “This… is the bold and urgent action we need to fight air pollution, climate change and improve the health of Londoners.”

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