Sadiq Khan targets Liberal and Green voters before May 6 UK News

Sadiq Khan has been accused of using “fake news tactics” after calling on Liberal Democrats and Green voters to back him on May 6.

Just over a week before London’s mayoral election, Sadiq Khan urged Liberal Democrat and Green supporters to vote for him and said “a vote for any candidate other than me only gets higher the chances that my opponent (conservative) sneaks onto the line “.

Mr Khan said: “This election is a two-horse race between me and the Conservative candidate. A vote for any candidate other than me just increases the chances of my opponent sneaking down the line and we wake up with a Tory mayor in May.

“Our city just cannot afford this to happen. The Conservative candidate is actively hostile not only to issues that interest Liberal Democrats and Green voters, but also to the modern, plural and progressive values ​​that make London so special.

“This is why I am asking Liberal Democrats and Green voters to take into account my record of the past five years and vote for London by lending me your vote.”

But the Labor mayor was criticized by his Liberal Democrat opponent Luisa Porritt, who said the comments were “a total disgrace”.

Ms Porritt said: ‘It is a complete disgrace that a so-called progressive mayor is engaging in false new tactics to scare the public and get them to vote for them in this election.

“Londoners have supported a better voting system for our elections so that they do not have to engage in this type of negative tactical voting. At a time when the Conservatives are threatening to abolish our proportional system, one would think that a Labor mayor would be there to defend it – not to pretend it does not exist.

Sadiq Khan’s comments come just days after an ITV poll found that the gap between him and his closest rival, Shaun Bailey, was narrowing, although Mr. Khan still maintains a 13-point lead over its conservative challenger.

Several recent polls have placed Mr Khan on more than 50 percent of the first preference votes which, if repeated on May 6, would see him declared the winner without the need for a second round.

This will be the last London mayor election to use the supplementary voting system in which voters mark a first a second preference, following a government decision to use the first past the post system from 2024 to all the Mayors of the Joint Authority and the Mayor of London.