Ken Livingstone has written to the Association of London Government expressing his “deep concern” at the news that members of the ALG’s Grants Committee proposed cuts of up to one third in the grants allocated to community and voluntary sector organisations across London.
In his letter to Merrick Cockell, Chair of the ALG, Mr Livingstone said the proposed cuts had “created deep uncertainty amongst the community and voluntary sector” and reiterated that “many of these pan-London groups are dependent on funding from the scheme”.
The Mayor said “lesbian and gay organisations in the capital have already begun to express their concern about the possibility of cuts” and suggested that “other groups and organisations will follow suit” unless the ALG reassured them that there would be no cuts.
Allocation of London-wide was historically carried out by the Greater London Council before that body was abolished in the 1980’s and passed to the the Association of London Government.
Mr Livingstone justified his intervention saying “any cuts in grants would have London-wide implications and are therefore a matter of considerable concern to my office.”
