Boris Wins But Labour Vote Recovers Locally

Tony Arbour retains South West seat in London Assembly for Conservatives

Boris Johnson has been re-elected as London Mayor, beating Ken Livingstone by a margin of 3%. The announcement was made just before midnight, after a count that lasted more than twenty-five hours. The overall result was 1,054,811 votes for Boris Johnson while the final number of votes for Ken Livingstone was 992,273.

The result was delayed by almost four hours from its expected time of 8 p.m. when it was discovered that two ballot boxes from Brent and Harrow were sent into storage without being verified and had to be sorted and recounted by hand.

Tony Travers of the London School of Economics said that Boris had “walked on water“ to win, considering the result of the Conservative party at national level.

Ken Livingstone said he would not run for election again.

Jenny Jones of the Green Party came third.

The result was closer than anticipated and while Boris Johnson was ahead in the first count, Labour picked up second preference votes which changed the dynamic considerably. Jenny Jones, of the Green Party, who came third, said the message from voters was that Boris Johnson did not have as clear a mandate as he might have expected.

Labour appears to have increased their vote substantially in the London Assembly elections in the local area.

Labour initially had high hopes of a shock result in the South West constituency which covers Hounslow and Richmond borough and was expected to be an easy hold for sitting Assembly Member Tony Arbour. In the early count Lisa Homan for Labour was running neck and neck but more recently the Conservative candidate has built a10 point lead. Labour have made big gains in the constituency at the expense of the Liberal Democrats. They were a poor third last time out.

London Mayoral Election

Live Vote Count - 5.17pm with over 90% of vote counted

London Assembly Election

South West Area (Borough of Hounslow)

Live Vote Count - 5.17pm with over 90% of vote counted

Result from 2008 Election

May 5, 2012