Council tax bills to rise

Ken Livingstone is to increase average council tax bills by £1.20 a week - almost £63 a year - to pay for more police and better buses, he announced today.

The amount is higher than was anticipated and, when local councils add their own increases, total bills will top £1,000 for the majority of Londoners. Of this, £236 a year will go to the Mayor.

Mr Livingstone today released the first draft of his budget, which will become effective in April and is seen as his "budget for re-election".

If approved by the London Assembly in February, it will provide 1,200 more police officers and 160 police community support officers, taking total Met numbers to more than 30,000 by 2004.

He will continue with his five-year plan to improve the buses and will target services in south London, while cashless buses will be introduced in parts of central London to speed up boarding times.