Ken goes into battle over MMR

Ken Livingstone today launched into a new war against the Government - over the triple MMR jab - just as he was appealing to be let back into the Labour Party.

London's Mayor said there was "no way" he would let his own soon-to-be-born child have the triple vaccine.

He accused ministers of hiding behind "weasel words" from scientists over the risks involved. And he suggested that the Government was only in favour of the MMR combination rather than three separate injections in order to save money.

The charges, which drew a swift denial from the Health Department, look certain to infuriate ministers and add to Mr Livingstone's already long list of Labour foes.

At Westminster, there were strong suggestions that the Mayor, knowing that his effort to re-enter the party is doomed, had decided to opt for martyrdom instead

Mr Livingstone upped the stakes, saying that, if he did become the party's official candidate in the next mayoral election in two years, he would expect Gordon Brown to come up with funding for London's multi-billion pound CrossRail project-and cash for more police. And he threatened that, if he was rejected by the party, he would stand again as an independent and win and that Labour's official candidate would trail third, behind the Tories.

The question of the MMR came up during a phone-in to Mr Livingstone on the Nicky Campbell programme on BBC's Radio Five Live.

Tony Blair and Health Secretary Alan Milburn have been fighting hard to maintain support for the combined mumps, measles and rubella vaccine. They have dismissed suggestions that it could lead to autism or other problems for children, and they have argued that the single injections are much less effective because many parents fail to take children to the three separate appointments required.

Mr Livingstone, asked whether he would opt for separate injections rather than MMR, replied: "I certainly would. No way would I inflict on a child that risk." He said that his generation were given separate injections which, even as a one-off, could produce quite a severe reaction and asked "why whack them all into a child at the same time?"

He added: "This whole debate is simply about administrative convenience rather than having to chase people to make sure they get them all separately. It's a question of a huge saving of time and money."

But the Health Department said: "Recommendations on MMR vaccines are categorically not based on financial or administrative considerations. All authoritative medical and scientific advice is that single vaccines deliberately leave children at risk of disease for longer. No country recommends MMR be given as three separate vaccines."

Meanwhile, the Mayor today unveiled a ? 25 million- a- year scheme to put 207 police officers on 26 of the most crime-riddled routes in London. The intention is, eventually, to have an officer on every bus.