Mayor adds £17 to council tax

Ken Livingstone was today given the go-ahead to increase his share of Londoners' council tax bills by three times the rate of inflation.

The Mayor's budget adds £17 a year to average bills - an increase of 7.5 per cent.

It went through after opponents on the London Assembly failed to secure a two-thirds majority to defeat his spending plans.

As a result, a typical London household will pay Mr Livingstone £241 a year, with all of the increase being used to provide 570 community police officers and 200 extra firefighters, who will boost the capital's ability to deal with "catastrophic acts of terrorism".

The capital's 33 borough councils will now set their bills, with the total amount paid by a band D household from April expected to average around £1,100.

Mr Livingstone said he had been determined to keep his increase "as low as possible" while boosting police numbers and continuing the dramatic rise in bus usage.

He said: "Londoners are willing to support reasonable increases in taxation when they know they will go to vital public services.

"The big lie of the last generation - that you could have better public services and not pay for them - I don't think cuts any ice with voters any longer."

Responding to the Government's threat to cap any "excessive" increases, Mr Livingstone added: "I am firmly of the opinion that the proposed budget increase could not reasonably be categorised as excessive." The Mayor's budget includes £25million to be spent on preparatory work to extend the congestion charge zone into Kensington and Chelsea by 2006, and £4million to progress the West London Tram scheme from Uxbridge to Shepherd's Bush.

However, his Conservative and Liberal Democrat critics denounced today's meeting as a "charade", as the budget was supported only by the nine Labour members of the 25-member Assembly. Their support for the Mayor, who was readmitted to the Labour Party last month, prevented his opponents putting together the two- thirds majority needed to agree an alternative budget.

Conservative group leader Eric Ollerenshaw said the Mayor's increase would force borough leaders to consider paring back their own spending, for example on nurseries and playgroups, to help keep overall bills down.

"Even a small one per cent increase puts borough councils in a difficult position," he said.

Liberal Democrat leader Lord Tope said the increase could have been kept to just 2.7 per cent and still have increased police numbers.

"The complicity of the Labour Assembly members and their support of the Mayor's ever- increasing spending demands have made a mockery of London democracy," he said.