GLA 'sabotaged eco plans'

Ken Livingstone today blasted members of the Greater London Assembly as "two-faced", claiming they have sabotaged his attempt to tackle pollution in London.

In a blistering attack, which shows the battle for the Mayor's budget has become intensely personal, Mr Livingstone accused members Samantha Heath, Meg Hillier and Baroness Hamwee of hypocrisy.

He claims all three urged him to spend more on the clean air strategy and on research into the creation of a Low Emission Zone but voted against expenditure on those projects when he included them in his budget.

They, in their turn, have accused him of failing to spend public money wisely.

Last Wednesday, the GLA backed a motion proposed by Labour and the Lib-Dems, which removed from the budget £500,000 that the Mayor says was earmarked for extra staff to implement environmental policies.

The GLA's sole legal power over the Mayor is its right to reject his budget.

Mr Livingstone said: "The Assembly faces two ways at once. Since my election it has constantly pressed me to devote more resources, and to recruit extra staff to cleaning up London, but this same Assembly is now proposing to cut my budget on precisely that issue.

"When it comes to a better environment, the Assembly talks a good policy but that is all."