London Mayoral Election Result: Sadiq Khan On Course For Victory According To Real Time Vote Counter

Sadiq Khan is currently on course to become the next Mayor of London, according to a live ticker showing the count result so far.

A nifty bit of tech on the London Elects website is showing the Tooting MP is currently ahead of his Conservative rival Zac Goldsmith in the race to City Hall.

The online ticker is updating every few minutes, and as of 12.30pm shows Khan is in on 44 per cent, with Goldsmith on 35 per cent – although these percentages are only visible when you look at the page’s source code.

Green party candidate Sian Berry is third on six per cent, while Lib Dem woes continue with Caroline Pidgeon languishing in fourth on four per cent.

Former Labour MP George Galloway has just one per cent.

The ticker only shows the results for first preferences, and if Khan fails to get more than 50 per cent of those votes, Londoners second preferences will be taken into consideration.

Goldsmith’s campaign for City Hall has been accused of being “divisive”, with the Tory candidate frequently questioning Khan’s links to “extremists”.

Last night, Andrew Boff, the leader of the London Assembly’s Conservative group, said he and many other Tories in the capital were “really troubled” by Goldsmith’s campaigning tactics.

After the polls closed on Thursday, Boff revelaed he had spoken to Goldsmith and said it was “a mistake” to attack Khan with such allegations, as it undermined the party’s hard work in appealing to the Muslim community.

Speaking on BBC’s Newsnight, he said: “I don’t think it was dog whistle, because you can’t hear a dog whistle. Everybody could hear this.

“It was effectively saying that people of conservative religious views are not to be trusted and you shouldn’t share a platform with them and that’s outrageous.”

“I was really troubled by one particular aspect [of the campaign] and that’s when he started equating people with conservative religious views with sympathising with terrorism. That sent a message out to many of the communities in London that’s very difficult to justify.”

If Khan does become the next London Mayor, it will be a rare moment of joy on what has otherwise been a poor night for Labour.

The party has been pushed into third place in the Scottish Parliament after finishing behind the SNP and the Tories, and will have to rule as a minority administration in Wales after losing a seat in the Assembly.

Labour also lost council seats in England, at a time in the electoral cycle when opposition parties are expected to make gains.