Apply for postal vote, urge mayoral candidates amid low turnout fears
A LAST-MINUTE push was underway today to encourage Londoners to apply for a postal vote amid fears of a low turnout in the mayoral elections.
Electors have until 5pm to apply to their local council for a postal vote in the May 6 polls to elect the Mayor and the 25 members of the London Assembly.
More than a million Londoners are thought to have asked to vote by post — up almost a fifth on 2016 — but there are concerns this could be off-set by many people being deterred from voting in person on the day. Social distancing requirements are expected to lead to queues at polling stations, and some will have to travel further to vote as smaller polling stations will not be in use.
A poll last month found only 40 per cent of Londoners were certain to vote, down five points on the turnout in 2016.
Candidates have been encouraging their supporters to apply for a postal vote because turnout among postal voters tends to be higher, at about 68 per cent. About 6.1 million Londoners are eligible to vote on May 6.
The race for City Hall saw further clashes between Labour incumbent Sadiq Khan and his Tory rival Shaun Bailey at a hustings organised by the London Jewish Forum last night.
Mr Khan insisted Labour had “turned the corner” on anti-Semitism following the appointment of Sir Keir Starmer as party leader. Mr Khan said he personally had spoken out against anti-Semitism “wherever it rears its ugly head, including in the Labour Party”.
He added: “I will never stop working to stamp out anti-Semitism within Labour, across our city and wherever it occurs.”
Mr Khan, who is a Muslim, added: “As someone who is different, who is an ethnic minority and a religious minority, I understand what it is like to be hated because of your being.” He said it was a “scandal” that Jewish schools and synagogues in London were required to hire security guards to protect pupils and congregations.
Mr Khan and Mr Bailey both pledged to organise mayoral trade missions to Israel. Mr Khan said he was keen to learn from the mayor of Tel Aviv, Ron Huldai, about how the city tackled vaccine hesitancy.
Mr Bailey said Mr Khan’s proposed extension of the ultra-low emission zone to the North and South Circular roads was “going to cut communities in half” and claimed the Mayor had left Transport for London “bankrupt”.
Mr Khan said TfL’s problems were caused by the loss of fares due to Covid. “It’s like he’s just landed from Mars in London today and not realised we have had a pandemic for the last 13 months.”