London Tories slam Sadiq Khan’s council tax rise in rival budget
City Hall Tories are calling on Sadiq Khan to scrap an almost 10 per cent rise in his share of council tax bills.
In January the Mayor of London announced plans to hike taxes to create an estimated £40m for concessionary travel programmes.
“Council tax is a regressive tax but the Government have left us with little option,” Khan said at the time.
Under the proposals the average bill for Band D will increase by £2.63 a month – £31.59 over the whole year.
Today GLA Conservatives have published a rival budget to save £95.3m by reforming its pension fund after a report commissioned by TfL in December revealed the scheme was “outdated and reformed” with £100m of savings possible.
Susan Hall AM, leader of the GLA Conservatives, said: ““The Mayor could save nearly £100 million by scrapping his statue-toppling commission, cutting his PR budgets and reforming Transport for London. He doesn’t need to increase council tax.”
“Our plan would fund London’s concessionary fares, invest in policing and create a new £50 million recovery fund, without asking Londoners to pay a single penny more in council tax,” she added.
The alternative budget plans to cut £250,000 from the Mayor’s press office and make savings of nearly £90m at TfL.
A spokesperson for London Labour said: “These pie-in-the-sky Tory proposals are designed to deceive Londoners.”
“The truth is that the Tories’ budget would lead to yet another huge cut in police funding – which is only to be expected considering the Conservative Government has already slashed Met funding by around £1bn in a decade.”