I want to say thank you from the bottom of my heart.
I’m deeply humbled by the trust Londoners have placed in me
to continue leading the greatest city on earth. I promise to strain every sinew to help build
a better and brighter future for London after the dark days of the pandemic.
And to create a greener, fairer and safer city - where all Londoners get the opportunities they
need to fulfil their potential. I'm proud to have won an
overwhelming mandate today. I want to thank everyone
who voted for me – Labour voters and non-Labour voters. And I also want to speak directly to every
Londoner who didn’t vote for me this week: I’ll never ignore your voice,
your concerns or your worries. I’ll always be a Mayor for
all Londoners – working to improve the lives of every single person in this city.
The results of the elections around the UK show that our country - and
even our city – remain deeply divided. The scars of Brexit are yet to heal.
A crude culture war is pushing us further apart. There's a growing gap between
our cities and towns. And economic inequality
is getting worse – both within London and between different parts of our country.
So as we now seek to confront the enormity of the challenge ahead and as we endeavour
to rebuild from this pandemic - we simply must use this moment of national recovery
to heal those damaging divisions. I often talk about the different
experiences I've lived during my life and how they’ve shaped my identity.
I do so because these experiences have forged my cast-iron belief that there’s far more
that unites us, than divides us. I grew up on a council estate,
a working-class boy, a child of immigrants. But I’m now the Mayor of London.
I’m a Londoner through and through – this city is in my blood.
But I’m also a patriotic Englishman and a Brit, who’s proud
to represent this nation’s great capital. The experiences I’ve had through my life have
shaped my belief that we all have a responsibility to do everything we can to build the bridges
that bring us together - rather than the walls that can only drive us further apart.
This virus doesn’t care whether you live in London or Liverpool.
Whether you’re a Brexiteer or a Remainer. Or what you think it means to be “woke”.
We’re only defeating it by acting together – and by helping each other.
So now we must capture and harness that spirit of unity and cooperation
to build a better and brighter future. And it’s in this spirit that I promise
to lead London over the next three years. Building bridges between the different
communities in our city. Building bridges across cultural,
social and class divides. Building bridges between London
and the rest of the country to ensure London can play its part in a national recovery.
And building bridges between City Hall and the Government.
Because we must all work together to build a brighter,
greener and more equal future for London, and for our entire country, after the pandemic.
It's not a competition between areas: people without a good job
or living in poverty need help wherever they are. I want to finish by saying thank you.
Thank you to my wife, Saadiya, and my family for your endless support. It's been a tough five years
and I know how lucky I am to have you. Thank you to the returning officer, Mary Harpley,
your team and those across London for delivering this election under incredibly
difficult circumstances. Thank you to
the other candidates in these elections who put forward a positive vision
for our city - and congratulations to those who’ve been elected to the London Assembly.
Thank you to my supporters for all your hard work phoning Londoners, delivering leaflets
and knocking on doors. You have been brilliant. And, most importantly, thank you to
my fellow Londoners - for the trust you've placed in me once again today.
It's a privilege to serve. Thank you.