Opinion
Sadiq Khan didn't have to make struggling Londoners pay more
Keith Prince AM , Havering and Redbridge
London mayor Sadiq Khan has increased council tax in this year's budget - Credit: Mike Brooke (inset) and Tom Simpson/GLA
Sadiq Khan's final budget as mayor shows he has the wrong priorities for London. Instead of making savings, Khan chose to increase his share of council tax by 9.5 per cent and protect his wasteful spending.
Worse still, the mayor's refusing to take responsibility for his decision by claiming he had "no choice" but to make Londoners pay more. This simply isn't true - the mayor did have a choice and the Conservative Group at City Hall presented it to him.
My colleagues and I unveiled a fully-costed amendment to the mayor's budget which would have frozen council tax. Our plan would protect concessionary travel, including free travel for under-18s, invest £45million in policing and create a £50million recovery fund without adding a penny to Londoners' council tax bill.
Keith Prince says the Conservative Group at City Hall unveiled a fully-costed amendment to the mayor's budget which would have frozen council tax - Credit: City Hall
Instead of increasing council tax, we identified how the mayor could make nearly £100million in savings by cutting waste at City Hall and reforming Transport for London.
By modernising TfL's outdated and extortionate bonuses, perks and gold-plated pensions, Khan could save nearly £9 million. A further £7million could have been saved by scrapping the mayor's controversial statue-toppling commission and cutting his PR budgets.
No Londoner wants to pay more tax to fund the mayor's press team, virtue signalling projects, and unjustifiable TfL reward schemes. But, that's what the mayor is asking Londoners to do in his budget. Our plan would put Londoners' priorities first instead of Sadiq Khan and his trade union allies' interests.
Sadiq Khan didn't have to make struggling Londoners pay more - he could have backed our plan to freeze council tax. Sadly, the mayor refused to cut his waste and reform TfL and chose to slap struggling Londoners with a bigger tax bill.
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In good times, it's terrible judgement. In the midst of a pandemic, it's disgraceful.
