London Mayor Sadiq Khan supports Ipswich Labour candidate

Sadiq Khan came to Suffolk on Thursday and met up with the local Labour politicians at Gippeswyk Park. 

His visit was to support Jack Abbott, who is standing for the parliamentary seat for Labour and the Co-operative Party.

Sadiq Khan spoke to the Ipswich Labour Party. (Image: Shikhar Talwar)

Mr Khan told attendees "The choice at the ballot paper is chaos with the Tories or stability with Keir Starmer and Jack Abbott.

"The choice at the ballot paper is division and decline with the Tories or growth, immunity and economic stability with Keir Starmer and Jack Abbott."

He called Mr Abbott "one of the finest candidates in the country" and said he was happy to see the Labour candidate put himself forward for the general election. 

Mr Khan said he was happy to see Mr Abbott put himself forward for the position. (Image: Shikhar Talwar)

"Take it from me, as someone who is quite old, this is the most important general election in my lifetime," Mr Khan added.

"I know in Ipswich, regular closures of the Orwell Bridge, anti-social behaviour, the town centre shops closing down, shows its time for change."

He continued to thank the local Labour activists for all their work in campaigning for the party and added that there is still a lot more left to do. 

Mr Khan encouraged party members to keep campaigning until the polls close. (Image: Shikhar Talwar)

He encouraged the party to keep campaigning until the polls close on July 4 - reminding them that the Conservatives are one the most successful electoral parties in the Western world. 

Mr Abbott said: "As a three-time winning mayor, Sadiq Khan knows a thing or two about winning elections, so I was delighted to welcome him to Ipswich.

"But Sadiq also knows that to deliver change, you need to vote for it. So with less than a week to go, we both had a clear message: don't risk waking up to another five years of Tom Hunt and the Conservatives."

The pair also went around passing leaflets in Wallers Grove and meeting residents. 

Ipswich was last won by Conservative Tom Hunt in 2019 and he is defending his seat in the general election next Thursday.

Adria Pittock of the Green Party, James Sandbach of the Liberal Democrats, Reform's Tony Love, Freddie Sofar of the Communist Party and Terence Charles of the Heritage Party are also hoping to take the seat in the poll next week.