Mayor of London election: Shaun Bailey pledges to reverse Khan’s 9.5 per cent council tax rise
Tory mayoral candidate Shaun Bailey has today pledged to reverse Sadiq Khan’s recent 9.5 council tax hike if victorious in the 6 May mayoral election.
Bailey today said he would also reverse plans to extend London’s Ultra Low Emissions Zone (Ulez) and cut the capital’s congestion charge for motorists from £15 to £11.50.
It comes as the Conservative candidate today releases a new party political broadcast, with Bailey claiming the tax rise showed Khan doesn’t understand “a lot of Londoners live…with a tight budget” and that when he was younger “if someone had raised my council tax that would have meant lunch money gone”.
The 9.5 per cent rise in the Greater London Authority’s portion of council tax was implemented this month.
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The mayor said he was forced to raise council tax due to government demands that City Hall raises more revenue in return in return for ongoing Transport for London (TfL) bailouts.
Khan’s manifesto, released yesterday, also said he would not apologise if he had to raise council tax again to raise revenues for the ailing transport body.
Speaking about his underprivilieged upbringing, Bailey said: “So when I sit here and I remember what it was like I remember that there’s a responsibility on politicians, not to waste people’s money.
“You’ve got to make every single penny count and I’m not sure that the mayor does that.”
Bailey trails Khan in mayoral election polls by more than 20 points, with a YouGov survey today giving the mayor 47 per cent of the vote.
Green Party candidate Sian Berry is in third on 9 per cent and Liberal Democrat candidate Luisa Porritt fourth on 7 per cent.
Bailey was criticised in December for distributing leaflets that falsely claimed Khan was raising council by 21 per cent.
A Labour spokesperson said: “The Tory candidate’s proposals would mean huge cuts to the Met Police, Transport for London and London Fire Brigade at the worst possible time – which is not surprising considering his record of personally cutting funding for the police and youth services when he was the Downing Street adviser for youth and crime.”