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 £50m recovery fund without adding a penny to Londoners' council tax bill.
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 By modernising TfL's outdated and extortionate bonuses, perks and gold-plated pensions, Khan could save nearly £90m. A further £7m could have been saved by scrapping the mayor's controversial statue-toppling commission and cutting his PR budgets.
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. In good times, it's terrible judgement. In the midst of a pandemic, it's disgraceful.
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here