High Commissioner Zahid Hafeez Chaudhri congratulates Sadiq Khan on election as Mayor of London

Canberra: Pakistani High Commissioner Zahid Hafeez Chaudhri this week congratulated Sadiq Khan on being elected as the Mayor of London.

“Congratulations Sadiq Khan on historic victory and best wishes for another successful term as Mayor of London. Londoners have once again shown how much they value inclusiveness and diversity,” the envoy said in a statement.

Sadiq Khan earlier won a third term as London’s mayor, capping a round of local elections across England that confirmed the political supremacy of the Labour Party and spelt misery for Britain’s Conservative government.

Khan won 43.7% of the vote, beating Conservative challenger Susan Hall by about 11 percentage points to extend his control of the capital that began in 2016.

It follows a string of victories around England for Labour, who are firmly positioned to take power from Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and his Conservatives in a general election in the coming months.

The Conservatives lost control of 10 local councils and nearly 500 councilors, suffering an electoral drubbing at the hands of the public that virtually everyone – including those within the party – had expected.

Labour leader Keir Starmer told reporters: “I am sorry, I don’t care which political party you support, if you leave your country in a worse state than when you found it 14 years later, you do not deserve to be in Government for a moment longer.”