Livingstone's Council Tax time bomb

Peter Forrest - Tottenham's GLA candidate

According to Conservatives London's Mayor Ken Livingstone is running up huge
budget deficits for the years following the 2004 Mayoral elections.
Conservatives say that this is a huge Council Tax time bomb which would add
£290 a year to the £224 a year Londoners already pay to run the capital's
services.

Livingstone has a projected funding shortfall of £563 million in his
Transport budget. His stated aim of reaching 35,000 Policemen will cost £300
million.  The congestion charge is bringing in considerably less than first
planned. If the Government does not give him the money to bail him out he
has admitted &there is no Plan B.

Since his election in 2000 Livingstone has failed to win back any of the £20
billion he claims London is owed by the Government. In 2002 the Government
even cut the grant given to him by £125 million.

Peter Forrest, Conservative GLA Candidate for Enfield-Haringey, said:

The irresponsibility of Livingstone beggars belief. He is deliberately
running up huge deficits in an attempt to blackmail the Government. Since
the Government has actually cut the Transport grant it gives to London it is
safe to assume he will be unsuccessful yet again in his pleadings for more
money.

With London already being the most expensive City in the EU in which to live
the last thing we want is yet another huge council tax increase due to
Livingstones spendthrift plans. Livingstone is playing games with the
Government but doesn't seem to care that the inevitable consequence of the
Government calling his bluff will be London taxpayers having to foot the
bill.

ENDS.

Notes to Editors:

Livingstones Council Tax Time Bomb

Ken Livingstone is setting a council tax time bomb for London.  He is
running up deficits in his budget that will lead to council tax rises of
hundreds of pounds.

Transport

· In 2005/06 the Transport for London Budget will be in deficit to the tune
of £563 million.

· The present subsidy for buses is £670.4 million.  In 2008/09 the level of
subsidy required will have risen to £1,105.4 million.

· The congestion charge is now only expected to raise £65 million.  At the
start of the year it was expected to bring in £121 million.

· The 2002 Government Spending Review cut the annual grant to Transport for
London by £125 million.

Police

· By 2004 London will have 30,000 Police Officers.  Livingstone is in
negotiations with the MPA about how to raise this figure to 35,000 by 2008.

· The cost of employing an extra 1,000 police officers in 2004 is £58.7
million.  Recruiting an extra 5,000 would cost £300 million.

Livingstones failure to negotiate

· Livingstone claims that he will get any money needed from the Treasury:

He wasted £4 million taking the Government to court over the PPP contracts.

The London council taxpayer will have to pay half of any successful Olympic
Bid - £875 million.

London already subsidises the rest of the country to the tune of £20 billion
a year. Since 2000 Livingstone has failed to get any money back from the
government for London.  The reason for this is his antagonistic attitude
towards his former Labour colleagues.

The cost of Livingstone

· The cost of Livingstone will soar if he is re-elected in 2004.

To meet the expected shortfall in the Transport Budget alone will cost an
extra £180 on a Band D council tax bill.

The expansion wanted in the Police will add another £110 on a Band D council
tax bill if the Government fails to supply the funding.

The Olympics bid will cost every house in London £20 a year for 12 years.

A Livingstone victory in 2004 will cost every Londoner dearly.