Boris Johnson has won a second term as Mayor of London. Mr Johnson who is seen as a possible leader of the Conservatives won with 44% of the vote on first preferences. In second place is Labour’s Ken Livingstone who secured 40% of the vote. Boris Johnson was ahead in the polls for most of the Mayoral campaign, he is more popular than both David Cameron and the Conservatives whilst Ken Livingstone was behind his party in terms of popularity. Many in the Labour Party feel the wrong candidate was selected, however Labour have had a fantastic 24 hours having picked up over 800 seats in elections across the UK.

The full results are below.

First Preference Votes in the London Mayoral Election 2012:

Boris Johnson, Conservative – 971,931 votes – 44.01%

Ken Livingstone, Labour – 889,918 votes – 40.30%

Jenny Jones, Green Party – 98,913 votes – 4.48%

Brian Paddick, Liberal Democrat – 91,774 votes – 4.16%

Siobhan Benita, Independent – 83,914 votes – 3.80%

Lawrence Webb, UKIP – 43,274 votes – 1.96%

Carlos Cortiglia, BNP – 28,751 votes – 1.30%

Second Preference Votes:

Boris Johnson, Conservative – 971,931 votes – 44.01% + 82,880 – 44.74% = 1,054,811 votes

Ken Livingstone, Labour – 889,918 votes – 40.30% + 102,355 – 55.26% = 992,273 votes.

The Liberal Democrats have taken a hammering at yesterday’s election the results show. Out of the results that have been announced so far, the Lib Dems lost seats they have held for many years. In Rochdale, Manchester and many other parts of the country the party lost every seat it was defending. The Conservative Party lost votes to UKIP which led to a number of Conservatives MPs such as Gary Streeter coming out against David Cameron and insisting he is not Conservative enough, a view shared by many Conservative activists that I have spoken to.

This election was clearly a victory for the Labour Party and Ed Miliband after they won seats in the South of the country and councils such as Plymouth, Cardiff, Glasgow, Exeter and Harlow. Mr Miliband was hit by an egg after he delivered a speech congratulating Southampton Labour. The voting data is below for the council elections.

Councillors:

Labour Party – 2158 (+823)

Conservative Party – 1005 (-405)

Liberal Democrats – 431 (-336)

SNP – 424 (+57)

PC – 158 (-41)

Others – 646 (-131)

Councils:

Labour – 75 (+32)

Conservative – 42 (-12)

Lib Dem – 6 (-1)

SNP – 2 (+2)

PC – 0 (-1)

Others – 5 (-2)

NOC – 51 (-18)

Mayoral Votes:

Voters in 10 English cities voted on whether to have a directly elected Mayor or not. All but one of the Cities where a referendum was held voted against with only Bristol voting to have a directly elected Mayor. Leeds is the only City still to declare. These results are a blow to the Prime Minister, David Cameron who has pushed the ‘big society’ and localism agenda since before the general election in 2010.

It is literally neck and neck between Boris and Ken in London with the possibility of Ken sneaking through and the other parties fighting it out for third place. Rumours are that the Lib Dems could come 5th…oops. This result is expected later tonight.

Whilst the Conservatives may well win the Mayoralty, it looks like Labour will win the London Assembly. 1 in 10 Labour supports are alleged to have backed Boris but it goes to support the poll results which show Labour is more popular than Ken and Boris is more popular than the Conservatives.

Today important elections are taking place across the United Kingdom, voters in London, Liverpool and Salford will decide who they want to be their directly elected Mayor whilst voters in Birmingham, Bradford, Bristol, Coventry, Leeds, Manchester, Newcastle, Nottingham, Sheffield and Wakefield  will vote on whether to have a directly elected Mayor or not.

Council elections are also happening today across most of the UK, the Liberal Democrats are expected to lose most of their councillors who were first elected in 2008 as a result of their part in the Coalition Government nationally and the Labour Party will be hoping to win councils including Glasgow. The Conservatives will hope to try and pick up some seats that will be lost by the Lib Dems whilst they face a threat of losing seats to the rapidly growing UKIP.

Today I have short blogs from members of the main three political parties about why you should vote for either the Conservatives, Labour or the Liberal Democrats. The links are below.

Cameron Brown on why you should vote Conservative today.

Ellis Palmer on why you should vote Labour today.

Tristan Pithers on why you should vote Lib Dem today.

Whatever you do please do go and use your democratic vote, voting matters. You can follow coverage of the election results, tonight on BBC1 from 11:35PM.

Tristan Pithers (@TristanPithers) is a member of the Liberal Democrats

It’s the day of local elections across the UK today as well as the vote for the GLA and the eagerly anticipated election of the next Mayor of London. I make an unashamed call for you to get down to your local polling station and put your cross in the box marked ‘Liberal Democrat’. After the media coverage of the Mayoral election in the capital, you would be forgiven for thinking that the choice for London’s voters today is either ‘Red’ Ken Livingstone with his uncosted promises and unpaid taxes or Tory incumbent Boris Johnson, everyone’s favourite political Falstaff. There is a third option, however, in Liberal Democrat Brian Paddick.

This time, for the first time, Londoners are voting for a Mayor of London who will have control over the budgets of the Metropolitan Police and be the new Police and Crime Commissioner for London. After the shameful scenes that were beamed across the world from the riots in London last summer, is now the time to elect someone who knows nothing about policing? Is now the time to re-elect Boris, the man who oversaw the woeful response to the riots and an extraordinary lack of leadership and empathy with London boroughs torn apart by violence? Is it really time for Ken, the man who cannot even unite his own party behind him?

Brian Paddick understands policing after thirty-years at the Met, many of those spent at the very top. He understands what Londoners need from their Police Service and, crucially, how best to deliver it. He hasn’t spent the campaign bickering with Boris and caterwauling at Ken. Instead, he’s been out on the streets, talking to real Londoners about the issues facing real London. So, London, for fairer fares, 360,000 new homes, youth hubs, a commitment to keeping you safe and cleaner, greener transport for the capital, vote Brian Paddick for your Liberal Democrat Mayor.

London is not, of course, the be all and end all of today’s vote. In villages, towns and cities up and down the country local council elections will have a real impact on your day-to-day life. From council tax to rubbish collections, these are the votes that really matter in your street. So why vote Liberal Democrat? Well, not a single Liberal Democrat council in England has raised council tax, something which cannot be said for Labour or the Conservatives. Keeping money in the pockets of working people has driven Liberal Democrats both in Government and locally because this is a party that’s on your side. Liberal Democrats are an activists’ party, not funded by Unions or big business we have to be, and the ethos of every Liberal Democrat councillor in the country is to work for people’s best interests not vested interests.

Fairer taxes, the youth contract, money in the pockets of working families, help for pensioners and true focus on local interests. These are Liberal Democrat values and this is what you will get by voting Liberal Democrat today.

Ellis Palmer (@ellispalmer94) is the North West Young Labour Disabilities Officer

I have been active in campaigning for disability rights from a young age, and I believe Labour across the country, and Ken in London, is the only party that effectively stands up for disabled people during this period of economic hardship. My parents instilled in me the belief that if you work hard you can achieve in life, whether you’re able-bodied or disabled and this is what I intend to fulfil. I’ve been educated at every level of the British education system, from a special school nursery, a Catholic primary school, a Comprehensive secondary school to a grammar school sixth form, and in September, I will hopefully head to university; Labour is the only party that stands up for aspiration and growth, the other major parties are hell-bent on austerity and ensuring that the rigid class system remains in place.

What I’ve learnt is that in an ideal world everybody would be able to achieve their full potential. Sadly, we don’t live in an ideal world. We live in a world gripped by economic crisis, a lack of educational and employment opportunities and a government, determined to make cuts that will hit this country’s vulnerable, including its disabled, the hardest.

I want governments, both at a local and national level that stand up for the vulnerable, the hardest hit. But it isn’t enough just to say that, as the Lib Dems have done, we have to mean it.
I believe that the only way that we can successfully highlight the severity of these cuts is to ensure that young people are engaged fully in the political process, only a Labour vote can say ‘no’ to these harsh government policies.

This means getting more young people involved in politics. Many of my friends are first time voters tomorrow and many have been asking me, the politica geek, who they should vote for. You can vote for the Tory-led government that has cut EMA, raised tuition fees, cut taxes for the richest and imposed more taxes on the ‘squeezed middle; or you can vote for an alternative, the Labour Party, which fights for the poorest and the squeezed middle, would re-introduce EMA in London (and I’m sure across the country too), and pursues an agenda based on jobs, growth and an alternative to austerity.

I joined the Labour Party because I believe in power for the many, not the few and I want you to vote for them for the same reason.