Sadiq Khan will emphasise his record standing up to Donald Trump and a \"rising tide of nationalism\" as part of his strategy to stay in City Hall, in a break with Labours national positioning.<\/p>\n
The Labour mayor of London is planning to explicitly target Liberal Democrat voters to take him over the line as a new poll shows he is set to win over a substantial chunk of their 2019 support.<\/p>\n
The approach, tailored for the capital, breaks with the one set by Labour leader Keir Starmer at national level which has sought to emphasise patriotism in an appeal to more conservative voters. <\/p>\n
Mr Khan kicked off his campaign, which will officially begin on Monday, by telling The Independent he was in a \"two-horse race\" with the Tories and that voting Lib Dem could risk him losing.<\/p>\n
But his suggestion sparked anger in the Liberal Democrat campaign, with the party's candidate Luisa Porritt accusing the Mayor of \"engaging in fake news tactics\" around the voting system.<\/p>\n
Both parties are preparing to set out their stalls ahead of the formal start of the mayoral contest on Monday. The latest survey by Redfield and Winton Strategies showed Mr Khan taking 37 per cent of the 2019 Lib Dem vote and Ms Porritt taking 35 per cent though such poll crossbreaks have a wider margin of error. <\/p>\n
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The Mayor Mr Khan said: This election is a two-horse race between me and the Tory candidate who simply doesnt share Londoners values.<\/p>\n
Im calling on people who have previously voted Liberal Democrat and who love London to lend me their vote. A vote for any candidate other than me will just increase the chance that the Tory candidate will win.<\/p>\n
\"I have always fearlessly stood up for London's values - whether on immigration, Brexit or the environment - and will continue to do so if I'm re-elected on 6 May.\"<\/p>\n
But Luisa Porritt, the Liberal Democrat candidate, said the capital's voting system meant Londoners didn't need to vote tactically.<\/p>\n
Under the so-called \"supplementary vote system\" voters can choose a first and a second choice. If their first choice candidate does not make it to the top two, their vote moves to their second choice.<\/p>\n
\"It is an utter disgrace that a so-called progressive Mayor is engaging in fake news tactics to scare the public into voting for him in this election,\" Ms Porritt told The Independent. <\/p>\n
\"Londoners backed a better voting system for our elections so they didnt have to engage in this type of negative tactical voting. At a time when the Tories are threatening to abolish our proportional system, youd think progressives would be out to defend it - not pretend it doesnt exist. <\/p>\n
\"With the Conservative candidate falling further and further behind, Londoners are looking for a serious and progressive challenger to the Mayor. Someone who will hold him to account for his poor record and has a plan to take London forward. I am that challenger.\"<\/p>\n
Mr Khan's team has prepared campaign material specifically targeted at Lib Dem voters, such a video interviews, stressing his opposition Brexit and spats with Donald Trump.<\/p>\n
In one video, a former Lib Dem voter named Dylan phrases Mr Khan's record having \"stood up for an open London against Trump and a rising tide of nationalism\" where people can \"fulfil their potential no matter where they come from, who they love, what colour their skin is or their religion\".<\/p>\n
A parakeet eats a cherry blossom in St. James's Park, London, Britain<\/p>\n
REUTERS<\/p>\n
Highland cattle lock horns at the National Trusts Wicken Fen Nature Reserve in Cambridgeshire<\/p>\n
PA<\/p>\n
A cleaner uses a fogging machine to clean a train carriage early in the morning<\/p>\n
PA<\/p>\n
A giant 60-metre wide sand portrait of 12-year-old Ansha from Ethiopia created by WaterAid on Whitby Beach in Yorkshire. The image of the young girl, who spends hours each day collecting dirty water from a river, was created to illustrate how climate change threatens water access for world's poorest<\/p>\n
PA<\/p>\n
Five kayaks, each reflecting the shape of a human bone, form Osteoclast (I do not know how I came to be on board this ship, this navel of my ark) (2021), a sculpture by Teresa Solar, positioned outside Exchange Flags, it's one of the outdoor exhibits in the 11th edition of Liverpool Biennial which opens March 20, 2021, and features a series of outdoor sculpture, sonic and digital commissions by nine different artists. PA Photo. Picture date: Monday March 15, 2021. PA Photo. To align with government guidelines, the second 'inside' chapter will launch the full festival of exhibitions and events hosted by key venues throughout the city in late Spring<\/p>\n
PA<\/p>\n
Protesters calling for greater public safety for women after the death of Sarah Everard, against the police handling of a gathering on Clapham Common in Sarah Everard's honour and against a proposed law that would give police more powers to intervene on protests hold up their mobile phones with their torches illuminated in Parliament Square in central London<\/p>\n
AFP via Getty<\/p>\n
A well-wisher places flowers at a band-stand where a planned vigil in honour of murder victim Sarah Everard was cancelled after police outlawed it due to Covid-19 restrictions, on Clapham Common, south London<\/p>\n
AFP via Getty Images<\/p>\n
Angela Rayner, deputy leader of the Labour Party, and Jonathan Ashworth, Shadow Health Secretary, launch a poster in central London, criticising the government's recommendation of a 1 percent NHS pay proposal, following the party's campaign launch on Thursday for the local and mayoral elections in May<\/p>\n
PA<\/p>\n
Waves crash over the harbour wall in Newhaven, southern England<\/p>\n
AFP\/Getty<\/p>\n
Officers from the Metropolitan Police search woodland near to Great Chart Golf and Leisure in Ashford, Kent<\/p>\n
PA<\/p>\n
A vertical mulcher machine is used to clear trees during the restoration of an ancient bog near Kielder Water in Northumberland. The ancient habitat, known as the Border Mires, is under threat from encroaching trees which are being removed as part of a 50 year old environmental project to protect the Border Mires in Northumberland<\/p>\n
PA<\/p>\n
Students take Lateral Flow Tests for coronavirus at the Jewellery Quarter Academy in Birmingham in the West Midlands, as pupils in England return to school for the first time in two months as part of the first stage of lockdown easing<\/p>\n
PA<\/p>\n
Nurses and NHS workers from the campaign group NHS Workers Say No, and Unites Guys and St Thomas Hospital Union branch, hold a socially distanced protest outside Downing Street in London over the proposed 1% pay rise from the Government<\/p>\n
PA<\/p>\n
Rangers fans outside the stadium after the Scottish Premiership match at Ibrox Stadium, Glasgow<\/p>\n
PA<\/p>\n
People go for a walk at The Dream a sculptor in Sutton Manor, St Helens, Merseyside, on a clear Spring day<\/p>\n
PA<\/p>\n
Health Secretary Matt Hancock during a visit to the Centre for Virus Research at Glasgow University in Glasgow<\/p>\n
PA<\/p>\n
Chancellor of the Exchequer, Rishi Sunak outside 11 Downing Street, London, before heading to the House of Commons to deliver his Budget<\/p>\n
PA<\/p>\n
A train rounds the coast and heads towards the Carbis Bay Estate hotel and beach, which is set to be the main venue for the upcoming G7 summit<\/p>\n
Getty<\/p>\n
Newborn lambs in a field at A J Thompson & Sons farm on the Romney Marsh near Lydd in Kent on the first day of meteorological spring<\/p>\n
PA<\/p>\n
People walking on the beach in Scarborough, North Yorkshire<\/p>\n
PA<\/p>\n
The coffin of Captain Tom Moore is being carried members of the Armed Forces at Bedford Crematorium in Bedford<\/p>\n
EPA<\/p>\n
A dog stands on rocks as the sun rises behind it at New Brighton beach, Wirral<\/p>\n
PA<\/p>\n
Shadow chancellor Anneliese Dodds delivers a pre-Budget speech to the Institute of Global Prosperity at Labour Party headquarters in London<\/p>\n
PA<\/p>\n
Britain's Health Secretary Matt Hancock looks on outside Downing Street in London, Britain<\/p>\n
REUTERS<\/p>\n
Two surfers make their way into the sea off of Boscombe beach in Dorset<\/p>\n
PA<\/p>\n
Crocuses bloom outside Trinity College in Cambridge<\/p>\n
PA<\/p>\n
Street art adorns many of the streets and walls around the Digbeth area of Birmingham<\/p>\n
PA<\/p>\n
Parts of Callander in Stirlingshire flooded after the River Teith burst its banks<\/p>\n
PA<\/p>\n
The sun rises over St Mary's Lighthouse, Northumberland<\/p>\n
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Cars drive along the A1101 in Welney, Norfolk, which is passable again after two months submerged by floodwater<\/p>\n
PA<\/p>\n
Professor Green announces Tideways new 25km Super Sewer is Heading East, marking a major stage in the construction of the tunnel, as two giant Tunnel Boring Machines link up to break through into Bermondsey and commence tunnelling towards East London. Once completed, the sewer system will prevent millions of tonnes of raw sewage entering the Thames<\/p>\n
PA<\/p>\n
man holds up signs reading I LOST MY JOB!! and BORIS, WHO IS GOING TO PAY THIS BILL? I DONT HAVE ANY MONEY TO PAY MY CREDIT CARD at the window of his hotel room at the Radisson Blu hotel in London<\/p>\n
Getty <\/p>\n
Passengers arriving at Heathrow's Terminal 5 are escorted by security personal to buses. From today, people arriving from 33 \"red list\" countries, including South Africa and the United Arab Emirates, must isolate in hotels rooms for 10 days at their own expense. The policy was announced late last month in response to the emergence of new variants of the novel coronavirus that are more resistant to existing vaccines. <\/p>\n
Getty<\/p>\n
People play ice hockey on frozen flooded fields near Ely in Cambridgeshire<\/p>\n
PA<\/p>\n
Prime Minister Boris Johnson, wearing a face mask, accompanied by Sarah Rose (left), MD of the Northumbria healthcare PPE manufacturing hub in Seaton Delaval<\/p>\n
PA<\/p>\n
Lanterns hang across the street to celebrate the Chinese Lunar New Year which marks the Year of the Ox, in Chinatown, central London, during England's third national lockdown to curb the spread of coronavirus. <\/p>\n
PA<\/p>\n
European Commission Vice-President Maros Sefcovic at London's St Pancras Station after arriving in the UK ahead of talks with Cabinet Office Minister Michael Gove on the Northern Ireland protocol.<\/p>\n
PA<\/p>\n
A frozen road sign and hedgerow are covered in icicles, as Storm Darcy affects large parts of the country, in Shenley, Hertfordshire<\/p>\n
Reuters<\/p>\n
People walk up Gardner street in Glasgow as snow blankets the city<\/p>\n
AFP\/Getty<\/p>\n
Drifting snow covers a car in Harwood, County Durham<\/p>\n
PA<\/p>\n
People walk through the snow in Knole Park in Sevenoaks<\/p>\n
Getty<\/p>\n
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Sadiq Khan to emphasise opposition to Trump and Brexit in bid to target Lib Dem voters - The Independent<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Sadiq Khan will emphasise his record standing up to Donald Trump and a \"rising tide of nationalism\" as part of his strategy to stay in City Hall, in a break with Labours national positioning. The Labour mayor of London is planning to explicitly target Liberal Democrat voters to take him over the line as a new poll shows he is set to win over a substantial chunk of their 2019 support. Continue reading