Sadiq Khan said Labour would have its “best generation of Labour MPs
elected in 2015” as he defended his party’s performance in the capital.
Mr Khan slightly increased his majority in Tooting from 2,524 to
2,832 as he held onto his Tooting constituency for the third time.
But
after masterminding his party’s election campaign in London, he watched
on as the party missed out on its first key target seat of the night,
Battersea.
When interviewed at 1.35am this morning he said it was
“too early to tell” if Labour had under performed in the capital but it
was “disappointing” to have lost the key battleground of Battersea.
When
asked why it could appear his party performed better in London than
elsewhere in the country, he told the Standard: “What we have seen in
London is a huge amount of support from our supporters, activists and
members who have gone door to door in the community.
“The energy has been infectious and we have seen lots of people who didn’t start wanting to vote labour, voting Labour.
“I’m
really excited about the job we have to do. I’m looking forward to
seeing new MPs elected in London, and looking forward to working with
them. I think you will see the best generation of Labour MPs elected in
2015 and I’m looking forward to working with them.”
He added:
“Last year in May we secured the best results in a generation in London.
The best ever council results and European results.
“That’s been the fruits of hard work over two years, three years. We
have become a movement, we have selected the best candidates we have had
in a general election. More women, more ethnic minorities, more young
candidates and we should see the fruits of that.”
He did not rule himself out of putting himself forwards as a Labour candidate for the London mayoral elections in 2016
He
said: “It still gives me goosebumps to be an elected politician elected
by the people of Tooting. Even asking me that question (if he could be
Labour’s candidate for London Mayor) is completely humbling for me, but
my job tonight is to concentrate on this election.”
The
Conservatives were also pleased with their campaign in Tooting where the
candidate Dan Watkins increased the number of votes for the Tories from
the 2010 election by more than 2,000.
They gained at the expense
of the Lib Dems,who lost their deposit, as their candidate received just
a 3.7 per cent share of the vote after the party had finished in third
place with 7,509 votes in 2010,
Mr Watkins said : “I was up
against Sadiq Khan who is probably Labour’s best MP in London if not the
country. He's very effective, he's always first at the photoshoot,
always gets the political message across and always has the Conservative
Council to get stuck into.”
“Its easier in politics to sell an
attack than a positive story and he has had the council to blame for
everything that is wrong in Tooting.”
Ravi Govindia, the leader of Wandworth council said the Conservatives
had not targeted the Tooting seat after the damaging losses across
London for the Tories in the local elections.
He said: “We
consolidated. This was not a target seat. You’ll find it is the picture
across London which showed in the local election it was leaning to the
left. In this election we have not wanted to lose any seats so have put
our resources into keeping what we had. Sadiq is also a difficult man to
unseat.”
Key issues in the campaign had centred on the NHS, as St
George’s Hospital in Tooting, one of the largest teaching hospitals in
the UK, which last year was told it had to make more than £90million in
cuts in two years.
Labour argued its was evidence the NHS was not
safe in Conservative hands, while the Tories said it was ready to
increase NHS funding and extend GP hours to reduce the strain on the
hospital, particularly its A&E.
Developers converting pubs
into flats was also a major issue, with all candidates, including
tee-total muslim Mr Khan, throwing themselves behind campaigns to save
popular pubs.
Full result:
Sadiq Khan (Labour) - 25, 263
Dan Watkins (Conservative) - 22, 421
Phil Ling (Liberal Democrats) - 2,107
Przemek Skwirczynski (Ukip) - 1, 537
Esther Obiri-Darko (Green) - 2,201
Majority: 2,832
