Labour’s Khan holds Tooting to chants of “Yes we Khan”
LABOUR HOLD
Swing -3.6%
TRANSPORT minister Sadiq Khan last night managed to hold onto his key marginal seat of Tooting in South London dealing a significant blow to Conservative hopes of an overall majority.
The junior minister had been earmarked as a potential scalp by the Tories. But in the bellwether seat Khan survived a 3.6 per cent swing to be re-elected with 22,038 votes, ahead of Tory candidate Mark Clarke at 19,514 with a 2,500 majority. The 3.6 per cent swing was lower than that recorded in nearby Putney and Battersea.
Khan’s supporters chanted “Yes we Khan” as his victory was announced.
The seat was the 113th target for the Conservatives and if reflected across the country will result in a hung parliament with the Tories as the largest party.
Veronica King, a Labour campaign worker, said: “We’re delighted, he’s a local candidate and worked so hard for the constituency in the last five years.”
Tooting is the more Labour-inclined part of the constituency and has a large ethnic community.