MAYOR MUST DEMAND EUROPEAN SOCIAL FORUM PAYS BACK £670,000 OF LONDONER'S MONEY

12.01.00am BST (GMT +0100) Tue 28th Jun 2005

Ahead of the inquiry later today (Tuesday) into the decisions that led up to Mayor Ken Livingstone spending £670,000 of taxpayers money on the European Social Forum (ESF), the London Assembly Liberal Democrats have called for the ESF organisers to pay the money back to Londoners.

After sifting through more than 400 pages of documents, the London Assembly Liberal Democrats have uncovered detailed, legally binding targets that the ESF organisers appear to have failed to meet. If the obligations were not met, and therefore the contract was broken, the Mayor on behalf of London's taxpayers can claim the money back.

The key objectives that the Liberal Democrats do not believe were met by the European Social Forum organisers as stated in their contract with the GLA are:-

· An achievement of milestones in the Funding Schedule including 'securing additional funding from third parties on or about August 2004'

· 'Efficient coordination and administration of the ESF meetings process and event management'

· 'Efficient organisation of the event… including the booking of accommodation'

Liberal Democrat Budget Committee spokesperson and Chair of the Budget Committee, Sally Hamwee, said:-

"While there were many interesting debates that took place during the ESF event last year, there is simply no justification for spending almost £700,000 pounds of taxpayer's cash on it. With other pressing concerns in the Mayor's in-tray this money could have been better spent on things like the crumbling tube and tackling violent crime."

"The finances and organisation of the ESF was a shambles from the start and appears to breach contractual obligations that had to be met for the organisers to keep the cash. On the face of it, the failure of the ESF to meet key contractual obligations means that it is time the Mayor looked at all the options open to him including claiming the money back."

ENDS

Notes to editor

At 10am today (Tuesday), the Budget Committee will investigate the decisions made by the Mayor and his staff to host and finance the European Social Forum that was held in October 2004.

Copies of the contracts can be obtained by contacting Richard Stokoe on 020 7983 4336