Mayor Sadiq Khan ‘must scrap 10% council tax increase’

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Mr Khan wants to increase his share of average bills from April by 9.5 per cent
PA
Ross Lydall @RossLydall25 February 2021

Sadiq Khan today came under pressure to scrap a rise of almost 10 per cent in his share of council tax bills.

His Conservative rivals at City Hall proposed a rival budget that would avoid any increase in the Mayor’s “precept” or surcharge on council tax bills.

Mr Khan wants to increase his share of average bills from April by 9.5 per cent, from £332.07 to £363.66 a year — the biggest increase in his time as Mayor.

Households in some London boroughs will face a total increase in excess of £100 once the amount that goes to their local council — likely to increase by five per cent in about two-thirds of boroughs — is added.

But the Mayor faced criticism for failing to pare back his increase after being told that City Hall’s finances were expected to be £182.8 million better than expected, due to the impact of Covid on receipts from council tax and business rates being less severe than initially feared.

The alternative Tory budget, which has been fact-checked by independent City Hall officers, proposes to save £95.3 million by reforming Transport for London’s perks and pension fund and scrapping some mayoral initiatives, such as his so-called “statue-toppling commission”.

Last December a report commissioned by TfL said that its pension scheme was “outdated and must be reformed”, with £100 million of savings achievable.

Sadiq Khan
Daniel Hambury/Stella Pictures Ltd

Susan Hall, leader of the GLA Conservatives, said: “Our plan would fund London’s concessionary fares, invest in policing and create a new £50 million recovery fund, without asking Londoners to pay a single penny more in council tax.”

Mr Khan plans to return most of the £182.8 million “windfall” to TfL but use £38 million to safeguard 1,000 police posts and expand schemes to cut violent crime. A London Labour spokesman said: “These pie-in-the-sky Tory proposals are designed to deceive Londoners.”

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