19 December 2003
London Mayor Ken Livingstone announced his 'sensible' budget this week featuring a 12% precept increase and a new neighbourhood policing initiative.
Despite claims by the Conservatives on the Greater London Assembly that he will face a government cap, his increase is well below the previous year's. In 2001/02, the precept increased by 22.6% and reached a record high of 29% this year.
With a modest budget increase of 5% and efficiency savings of £107.2m, local authority sources said a cap was unlikely.
One source also indicated that with a £56m loss in police grant, due to the floors and ceiling mechanism, and additional policing pressures from terrorism, the London boroughs would be more sympathetic to the GLA precept than previously. It would add 2.5% to Band D council tax and is therefore unlikely to exert a huge influence over council tax increases.
The Metropolitan Police Authority will receive an extra 6%, taking the lion's share of the budget with £2.3bn out of a total of £2.8bn. The centrepiece of the MPA budget is the introduction of a community-based policing scheme with three dedicated neighbourhood teams in each of the 32 boroughs from April.
The budget also provides for an extra 200 firefighters, £57.8m for Transport for London and £55.9m for the GLA.
'This is a sensible budget which I believe balances the need to keep the precept increase as low as possible but still provides the vital resources for policing and safety in the capital,' Livingstone said.
It emerged this week that Livingstone is set to become the official Labour candidate for the 2004 mayoral election after the Labour Party's ruling council voted in favour of his readmission.
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