Mayor gives activists free travel on the Tube

Ken Livingstone is to give free travelcards worth up to £400,000 to Left-wing activists attending a conference in the capital next month. Less than a week after announcing that Tube and bus fares will rise next year, the Mayor has decided that up to 20,000 delegates at the "global justice" event will get three days of unlimited travel in zones 1-6.

Backers of the plan say it will cost a fraction of the headline cost as no extra Tube or bus services will be laid on. But the Mayor's office admits the bill will be "in the low tens of thousands of pounds". The Tory group on the London Assembly today attacked the move as "a scandalous waste of money".

The European Social Forum conference, to debate capitalism's impact on human rights, is already costing the Greater London Authority about £400,000.

Redmond O'Neill, one of the Mayor's advisers, said: "A lot of people will not be able to come if we don't reduce their costs."