Susan Hall makes vague pledge to cut City Hall waste, as she slams Sadiq Khan’s 2019 ‘bicycle ballet’
Conservative mayoral candidate Susan Hall has vowed she would cut City Hall waste as she criticised Sadiq Khan over spending on “bicycle ballet” from 2019.
Former Tory group leader Hall, who is up against Khan in the London mayoral elections in May 2024, hit out this week at his plans to hike the council tax precept by 8.6 per cent to fund TfL and the Met Police.
Hall, whose campaign has proved controversial in recent weeks, including disputed claims she was pickpocketed on the London Underground, vowed to trim the fat at the Greater London Authority (GLA) if elected, but declined to commit to specific savings.
Hall told Morning Wire: “The first thing I would do is to make sure that the money wasn’t wasted.
“He’s got a £21bn budget. So it’s a massive budget. And I know for sure there’s so many extra staff employed in City Hall. He’ll spend money on stupid things like bicycle ballet, beach parties, the statue commission, things like that.
“Millions and millions are wasted so the first thing to do is make sure that taxpayers money was not wasted.”
Khan was criticised in 2019 over how he spent cultural funding, including a reported £30,000 for Chingford May Day Fayre’s bicycle ballet, and again for two summer ‘beach parties’ — free family events in the Royal Docks — in 2018 and 2019, costing a reported £700,000 combined.
The mayor’s office insisted at the time that the money for the community event was ring-fenced cash for the local area, generated from business rates.
She also pledged to bat for London when it came to council funding, after Morning Wire revealed London’s councils were collectively half a billion in the red.
“I will always want more money for London,” Hall said. “I’m a Londoner through and through, I will absolutely stand up for Londoners and I will put in for money from wherever I could.”
But despite criticising Khan for treating Londoners as “walking cash machines”, Hall wouldn’t confirm exact savings she’d look to make as mayor. She added she wouldn’t cut services and every pledge she makes would be “funded properly”, with more detail to come early in 2024.
“I’m waiting until the budget comes out, the final budget, then we’ll know where we really are,” she said. “I’m not saying cuts to services. I’m saying, let’s look at the waste. There’s a very big difference. Sometimes things can be run in a far more efficient way.”
A spokesperson for the mayor said: “Sadiq is focused on delivering on the issues that matter most to Londoners.
“This includes supporting families through the cost-of-living crisis with free school meals for all state primary school children, building a record number of council homes, being tough on crime and tough on the causes of crime, making public transport more affordable for millions of Londoners, and taking world-leading action to tackle the climate crisis and air pollution.
“He’s also standing up for London against a government that’s refusing to properly fund our vital public services, with Sadiq having to step in to ensure the police, the London Fire Brigade and public transport network have the investment they need as we continue building a safer, fairer and greener London for everyone.”