Examining Boris Johnson's budget
By John Biggs
Well, it's budget time again. My job as an Assembly Member is to examine the Mayor's plans and look for the flaws.
So here they are (well, the big ones anyway). The good news is that the amount of Council Tax precept is remaining frozen in Boris' latest budget.
The bad news that naturally follows from this is that we all hate paying taxes but we all want the services they pay for. So who is losing out?
There are two big losers. First, passengers are paying higher fares - fare income is a big part of the budget. A few pence is being saved on Council Tax while many passengers are a few pounds worse off each week.
It's like being given some pennies by someone who's just taken your wallet. I think we all know there are hard choices, but the publicity of a Council Tax freeze was almost designed so you wouldn't notice the fares hike.
Second, after eight years of increased police numbers under the previous Mayor, these are now being cut. Funding the police takes a large chunk of taxes so a freeze in Council Tax will quickly put pressure on police numbers.
In opposition, my colleagues and I have proposed a budget that reverses most of the fare rises and protects police numbers, while retaining a Council Tax freeze by cutting the Mayor's public affairs budget.
Hard choices, but these decisions can be made in a more thoughtful way.
- John Biggs is London Assembly Member for City and East London
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'It's like being given some pennies by someone who's just taken your wallet'.
Just like when John Biggs ran up debts of £180 million as a board member of the LDA.
Is it any wonder Boris had such a hard task balancing the books after taking over from people like John Biggs.
I'm not taking any lectures from this little man.