Taxpayers' burden has been kept to a minimum

Your readers will be delighted to hear that London Mayor Boris Johnson s budget was approved this week, meaning that from April the City Hall share of council tax will be frozen for the first time in eight years. Despite being paid by Londoners to hold th

Your readers will be delighted to hear that London Mayor Boris Johnson's budget was approved this week, meaning that from April the City Hall share of council tax will be frozen for the first time in eight years.

Despite being paid by Londoners to hold the Mayor to account, the London Assembly Labour Group declined to offer any alternatives.

They did, however, let slip their real intentions. Deputy leader of the Labour group John Biggs said: "What Labour would have done was what was in Ken Livingstone's manifesto."

So Londoners can be clear what Labour stand for: forcing families with large vehicles to pay �125 per week to drive in central London, increasing council tax, doing oil deals with Venezuela, and not investing in either transport, police or local parks.

Whereas what you get with Boris is the 24-hour Freedom Pass, more crime fighters on the buses and at suburban stations, better local parks and new cycling schemes - all achieved through efficiency savings which keep the burden on the taxpayer to a minimum at a time when Londoners are suffering from the recession.

Kit Malthouse

London Assembly Member for Westminster, Hammersmith & Fulham, Kensington & Chelsea

1