London Mayoral Election, Explained

    Stay Tuned to the end of this article for a special announcement! 

 

London Mayoral Election, Explained

    Ah London! You know London, the city with 9 million people, 350 train stations, home of the Royal Family all jam packed into a city 4 times smaller than the current State of Palestine, the number is 1572km² in case you were wondering. Recently, London has been under a bit of a pickle. That's because of something called COVID-19. London has recorded nearly 750,000 cases of the virus and has suffered through a few lockdowns. But on 6 May 2021, people think that something will change. That's because on the 6 of May is the London Mayoral Election date where the incumbent Sadiq Khan is facing opposition from not 3 or 4 candidates but roughly 15 candidates! So today I am going to try my best to break down this election...

How Politics Work - London Edition

    In 1986, then British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher abolished the system used in the past to run and govern London. She abolished the Greater London Council (GLC) and London basically broke up into 32 boroughs (something like a district). Then in 2000, the new system, called the London Assembly was introduced along with an elected Mayor. First Mayor of London, Ken Livingstone served for 8 years until he left and newly elected Boris Johnson, the man who can't comb his hair served for another 8 years before in 2016, Sadiq Khan came into power. In 2020, Mayor Khan made the excellent and smart choice to postpone the election to 2021 and so here we are today.

Reviewing Sadiq Khan

    The last 4 years under Mr. Khan has been interesting. For he has done a lot and also messed up a lot. Let's begin with what he did well in his term. First of, he introduced the Ultraow Emissions Zone or ULEZ to reduce carbon emissions. He introduced the hopper fare where you can travel on bus and tram for 90 minutes only spying £1.50. As Mayor, he also froze transport fares during the pandemic and has supported expansion for two of six Airports. Overall, he has been a well-liked mayor and has been rank under Time 100 most influential people in the world and has developed a strong reputation for himself.

    Now let's talk about his failures as Mayor. The most obvious and most heavily criticized failure would almost certainly be the Crossrail, Elizabeth Line Project, a new train line that should have opened in 2018 now delayed to 2022. Next up has been the sudden increase homicide rates in London over the past few years. And of course, COVID-19. With over 750,000 cases in London alone. But his approval ratings are soaring high though. Out of all 3 mayors, he is considered to be the best though. So who are his main opposition in this 2021 mayoral election?

Khan and his Main Opposition

    Let's first deduce Mayor Khan's main opposition since, as mentioned, there are more than 15 different candidates.

Conservative > Shaun Bailey - Currently polling second in the election, Mr. Bailey has tried unsuccessfully in parliamentary elections twice and was chosen as a member of the London Assembly in 2016.

Green > Siân Berry - Ms. Berry first joined politics as a Principal Speaker for her party. She later became a member of the London Assembly and became the leader of her party towards the Assembly. She is now the co-leader for the Green Party in England and Wales. This candidate also ran in 2016 against Sadiq Khan.

Liberal Democrats > Luisa Porritt - Ms. Porritt was first chosen after another candidate dropped out after the election was postponed. Ms. Porritt, the youngest of the 4 main candidates including Mayor Khan, served as a Member of the European Parliament for London from 2019 to 2020 when the position was abolished when the UK left the EU. 

    They are Mayor Khan's main opposition. But, as mentioned, there are 20 candidates! From YouTube stars to the brother of the Opposition. 

    First up is Niko Omilana, a 23-year old YouTuber running for Mayor and is currently polling 5th! Especially impressive considering there are 20 candidates. But it's not just him though, another 26-year old YouTuber, Max Fosh is also running. But if you though that was all, there is YouTuber and Podcaster Brian Rose, who many may know as the candidate who, in April, drank his own pee and commented on it (the video went viral, as for most stupid stuff you find on the internet) Now if you aren't a Londoner (like me), then you should check out their YouTube channels. 

    Another candidate is Piers Corbyn, the brother of Leader of the Opposition, Jeremy Corbyn. We also have, Count Binface, who some of you may know, ran in the 2019 UK Prime Minister Election and got 1% of the vote. Mr. Binface is a 'made up character by Comedian Jon Harvey. There's also Actor Laurence Fox, best known for his movies who is also running. 

    Now there are clearly others who are running but briefly summarising the profile of 20 people is kind of boring, so let's move on to the good stuff, the opinions...

Farren's Opinion Corner

    In my opinion, Sadiq Khan has had quite a jolly good time as Mayor. Considering all the nonsense and political back-and-forth that has been going on in the past 4 years, Mayor Khan has earned a considerable reputation for himself. And while he has had some very noticeable setbacks, he is considered the best mayor London has ever had (out of 3 mayors that is). And so far, he is doing very well in the polls. From what I can find, 40-45% of Londoners approve of him and are in favour of him. 

    On May 6th, Londoners will head to the polls and vote for their new Mayor. Acting as a very professional analyst (definitely professional...), I will predict the following results. 

    Sadiq Khan (Labour) > 46%

    Shaun Bailey (Conservative) > 25%

    Luisa Porritt (LibDem) > 5%

    Siân Berry (Green) > 5%

    Niko Omilana (Independent) > 7%

    Everyone Else > 12%

    I will talk more about why this is my prediction when the Mayoral Results are out. But I'm predicting a beautiful landslide election for Sadiq Khan. Anyway, let's get to the special announcement.

That Special Announcement

    In case you aren't aware, I have a second blog called Farren's Personal Corner. Where, as the name suggests, has a lot of PERSONAL stuff. I have no posts on there yet but don't worry! On May 6, I will post my first Farren's Personal Corner article! Next up, I have a new page all about me! I am still currently working on it but you can find it on the left panel, click 'About'.  Anyway, we are extremely close to 3000 views! So thank you! 

Happy Reading! This article took me by far the most amount of time to make. I had written 8 other drafts before this final version. Thank You for all the support!

Farren's Personal Corner:

farrenpersonalcorner.blogspot.com