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Johnson silent on fares as he announces precept freeze

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oyster_busSpeaking this morning at the Conservative Party Conference, Boris Johnson has confirmed plans to freeze the Greater London Authority’s portion of the council tax for the second year running.

Last year the Mayor announced a freeze in the precept, the first time this had happened since the Authority came into being in 2000, saying he was able to deliver the same services while making over £100 million of efficiency savings.

However opposition members on the London Assembly have repeatedly accused the Mayor of distorting the true cost of his administration by creating a fanfare around the precept freeze while levying above-inflation fare increases of 6%.

Speaking this morning Johnson said: “When there is less money in people’s pockets and people feel less secure in their jobs it is important that politicians do all they can to protect the families and people of London from excessive tax increases.”

Caroline Pidgeon, the Liberal Democrat London Assembly Transport Spokesperson, has criticised Johnson for failing to reveal details of this year’s fare package.

Commenting after the Mayor’s speech Pidgeon said: “While the Mayor boasts about freezing his section of the council tax from April 2010 he remains silent over fares which are a far bigger bill for most Londoners.”

Comments

  1. They can always hammer us for extra Council Tax once the general election is out of the way ! thats assuming that The Conservatives’ win it.

  2. “Speaking this morning at the Conservative Party Conference, Boris Johnson has confirmed plans to freeze the Greater London Authority’s portion of the council tax for the second year running.”

    …are these like his plans to remove the western extension zone?

    I’m sure Boris has got the Economy in mind when he wants to ensure that politicans “do all they can to protect the families and people of London from excessive tax increases.”

    …however what the donought doesn’t realise is fare increases are much more of a burden on a working person as people with no jobs can sit at home or find alternatives (walking / cycling) whereas working people must travel on peak hour public transport and have been getting stung harder and harder under Boris.

    I believe that low paid workers can get a subsidy for their council tax (or if they are single) – however there is no such discount on public transport – thereby making it a dis-incentive to employment.

    Instead of spreading the costs across all londoners (with council tax) he has ensured only a selection are hit – and guess who wins in this scenario?

    …the people who don’t use public transport – which conveniently includes all the Chelsea tractor mother truckers – who are not seeing an increase in their congestion charge.

    Hi achillies heel in all this is he doesn’t realise how much Public tranport numbers are going to drop over next year. The fares are no longer a reliable cash cow as there will be a huge reduction in those using tubes and buses as the city further declines with secondary job losses.

  3. I wonder if Boris Johnson is including the revenue from the Western congestion Charging zone in with his 100 Million Pound efficiency saving . It does appear a bit like Boris has become a magician that has pulled the rabbit out of the hat. We have to also realise that we have seen no Tangible Evidence on how and where these savings are made , also , are they really possible in the long term and will it really work.

    Let us not forget that this was a speech meant to impress a conference and how many times have we listened to juggled information that could be read into many different ways to create ” Loop Holes ” , ” Clever Spin ” call it what you want but how many times have we been fooled in the past ?

  4. How can Boris Johnson possibly claim that he is able to make an efficiency saving of 100 Million Pounds when he does not know how much his Flag Ship Manifesto pledge of removing The Bendy Bus is going to cost ? Boris Johnson has certainly become a ” Magician “.

  5. The long awaited transport strategy for London has been published:

    http://mts.tfl.gov.uk/default.aspx

    Check it out – it’s a heavy read but I’m sure the holes in it will make it seem light!

    I shall be reading it in full tonight and verifying some of the claims made within as Boris hasn’t got a good track record of making things add up!

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