Photo by RachelH

The ballot boxes are in and the votes are being counted as London waits to find out who the next Mayor will be.

Thursday’s exit polls had Sadiq Khan 14 points ahead of his Tory rival Zac Goldsmith and widely predicted to win. Goldsmith’s campaign suffered a last-minute blow when Conservative London Assembly leader Andrew Boff criticised him over attempts to link Khan to Islamic extremism.

The latest Mayoral campaign has been somewhat lacklustre, with seemingly few people appearing to give a toss about it, not least the candidates themselves.

In Barnet, a number of voters were turned away after a ‘printing error’ meant that their names didn’t appear on the poll list. The council has apologised for the error, and allowed proxy votes later in the day. Somewhat ironically, after last week’s Labour anti-semitism row, one of the voters turned away was Chief Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis.

The results for the London Assembly elections will be announced around 3pm today, with the new Mayor revealed around 5pm.