Voter ID rules could stop me getting elected as London mayor, Sadiq Khan claims

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Sadiq Khan has warned that new voter ID guidelines may stop him from being re-elected as London mayor.

In simply six weeks, Londoners will head to the poll field and vote for who they wish to see operating the capital for the subsequent 4 years.

The most recent YouGov/Mile Finish Institute Ballot has Mr Khan with a considerable lead of 49 per cent in comparison with his closest rival, Conservative Susan Corridor on 24 per cent.

Regardless of the commanding lead, Mr Khan writes in The Impartial that modifications to the voting system to pick the mayor and guidelines which means you need to deliver an accredited type of ID to vote may scupper his probabilities of re-election on 2 Might.

In earlier mayoral elections you’d have the ability to get a primary and second alternative for mayor, nevertheless this time you’ll solely get one vote.

Mr Khan writes: “This implies a vote for any social gathering apart from Labour solely makes it extra probably that Londoners find yourself with a Tory mayor.”

The mayor of London additionally warned that recent guidelines on photographic ID may negatively affect his ballot probabilities.

He mentioned: “New guidelines making it obligatory to have an accredited type of ID – a deliberate try to cut back turnout – additionally places the election on a knife-edge.

“Evaluation reveals greater than 900,000 Londoners – prone to embrace massive numbers of younger folks and people from minority communities – won’t have legitimate ID and can thus be barred from exercising their democratic proper to vote.

“On the final London Mayoral election, in 2021, I used to be lower than 5 per cent forward after the primary spherical of voting. These are the finer margins we’ll now be coping with.”

Mr Khan has urged supporters of rival progressive events, such because the Inexperienced Celebration and Liberal Democrats, to again him to maintain the Tories out of energy within the capital.

He added: “I’m asking for his or her assist in order that we don’t get up in six weeks’ time to seek out our metropolis’s cherished values at critical danger with a hardline Conservative in Metropolis Corridor.

“I’ve at all times stood up for London’s open, outward-looking, pro-European and anti-racist values – in addition to for local weather science, ladies’s rights, our range, our LGBT+ neighborhood, and liberal democracy.”

Mr Khan went on to assault his primary rival Ms Corridor, claiming that she “supported a tough Brexit” and voted towards his initiatives to cope with air air pollution and local weather change.

He added: “We should shield the good points we’ve made and the trendy, plural, inclusive outlook that makes London the best metropolis on this planet.

“However to do this, I’m asking Lib Dems and Greens to lend me their votes, utilizing their first and solely alternative at this election. That is the one means we are able to safeguard the whole lot that makes London so particular and proceed constructing a fairer, safer and greener London for everybody.”