Ken calls for 1,000 extra police in his budget

Ken Livingstone was today accused of conning Londoners after it emerged he is not paying for any of the extra 1,000 police being recruited for the capital.

The funding is expected to come from the Government and London's borough councils yet the Mayor claimed credit when he presented his annual budget at City Hall today.

Mr Livingstone said he had been able to limit the increase in his share of council tax to two per cent "while still funding an additional 1,000 police officers in the coming year".

But Liberal Democrats produced figures showing the Home Office was expected to pay for 300 counter-terrorism officers, 300 security posts and 267 officers for the London Olympics from April. A further 320 will come from a two-year deal between the Met and the councils.

This amounts to 1,523 new officers, a figure that will be reduced by 525 as a result of Scotland Yard cutbacks, leaving a net increase of 998.

Brian Paddick, the former Met deputy assistant commissioner and the Lib-Dem mayoral candidate, said the Mayor had "failed dismally on his promise to cut crime by 50 per cent in the last four years and now this".

But Mr Livingstone responded: "I'm taking the credit because I have gone off and negotiated it with the Government."