In the last two weeks, Ken Livingstone has been saying publicly that he has access to £4bn which can be used to repair Camden s dilapidated council housing. This issue was raised at the Housing Scrutiny Cttee (which I chair), where Camden residents asked

In the last two weeks, Ken Livingstone has been saying publicly that he has access to £4bn which can be used to repair Camden's dilapidated council housing.

This issue was raised at the Housing Scrutiny Cttee (which I chair), where Camden residents asked me to find out if the claim is true.

The claim turns out to be completely untrue, and I condemn Ken Livingstone's attempt to cynically mislead the public just before an election. In fact. 78 per cnet of the £3.75bn is for new housing, not refurbishing existing homes, and £500 million of the £3.75bn that is earmarked for "decent homes" (i.e. repairs) is not allocated by the Mayor at all, but by the Government - who have been refusing to hand anything over to Camden's residents for arcane reasons to do with an ALMO.

The portion that Camden can expect to get from the Mayor for refurbishing our Council Homes is no more than about £4m - and we need £400 million. We have been taking the initiative on Camden Council to raise this ourselves, since the Mayor and Government cannot or will not help.

Ken Livingstone's claims to be able to fix Camden's council housing are totally untrue, and have falsely raised Camden's residents' hopes simply to further his own election prospects. No wonder people are fed up with Ken - and it's one of the many reasons why I'm backing Boris.

Cllr Chris Philp

Con, Gospel Oak & Parliamentary Candidate for Hampstead & Kilburn