"LIB DEMS CUT MAYOR'S SPENDING" - TUFFREY

3.48.38pm GMT Tue 30th Jan 2007

CONTACT: Emily Walch 0207 983 4336 / 07768 538 560

EMBARGO: IMMEDIATE, Tuesday 30 January 2007

"LIB DEMS CUT MAYOR'S SPENDING" - TUFFREY

The London Assembly Liberal Democrats have put forwards proposals at today's GLA Budget meeting to cut the Mayor's take on London's council tax by half.

The Liberal Democrat amendments to the Mayor's budget will deliver value for money whilst focussing on promoting more sustainable city as well as developing a more integrated transport system, geared to help the most deprived section of Londoners.

Mike Tuffrey, Liberal Democrat Leader on the London Assembly, said:

"The Mayor's share of the Council Tax has risen from £123 to £304 since he came to office in 2000 and is badly hitting many hard working London families. With our budget amendment Londoners will get enhanced public services at half the increased cost.

'We have concentrated this year on tackling one of the major areas of importance to Londoners - how do we make London one of the worlds most environmentally sustainable cities?

'We are calling on the Mayor to invest an additional £25 million in working with the 5 worst performing boroughs in the capital to develop a Material Reclamation Facility (MRFs) in each area with the capacity to sort 40,000 tonnes per year of recyclable material. This will double the number of MRFs already in operation across London and start to deal with London's waste in some of the poorest areas of our city.

'We are also calling on the Mayor to bring in measures to enable the poorest section of London to access the public transport network. We advocate reducing the cost of bus travel between 5am and 7.30am to promote social inclusion and enable people to access employment opportunities. This will also reduce peak morning congestion on the bus network. In addition, by scrapping schemes that are clearly unwanted by local residents around London, such as the West London Tram, and deferring expenditure on the Thames Gateway Bridge, we would put more money into road safety, the development of school travel plans and the seed corn funding of school car sharing schemes to start in the new academic year." ENDS

Note to the Editors

For a full copy of the Liberal Democrat amendment please look at http://www.glalibdems.org.uk/resources/sites/217.160.173.25-3e54d44dcb2780.65885247/The%20Mayor%20and%20London%20Assembly/London+Assembly+Lib+Dem+alternative+budget+2007-08.doc