BAND D LONDON COUNCIL TAX BILLS COULD RISE BY UP TO £140 NEXT YEAR

12.01.00am GMT Tue 8th Nov 2005

A £48.8million shortfall in police funding could lead in part to Band D London Council taxpayers facing increased bills of almost £140 next year, the London Assembly Liberal Democrats warned today.

The warning comes as new figures show that the Met Police need an extra £47.8million - equivalent of £16.73 on a Band D household - to fully roll out Ken Livingstone's policing pledges and fill a deficit in their budget.

This will come on top of both the £20 extra per year for London households to fund the Olympics and the extra £100 per Band D household that the Local Government Association has already warned will be needed for local Councils to stop services being cut unless central Government provides extra cash.

Leader of the London Assembly Liberal Democrats, Graham Tope, said:-

"The Mayor is always talking about how he can charm and schmooze his Labour colleagues in government to get more cash and yet he hasn't managed to get them to provide enough money his key policy of rolling out neighbourhood police teams.

"Unless Gordon Brown offers a genuinely better deal for London than in the past, then the capital will see more inflation busting Council Tax rises and more cuts in front line services.

"Over the last four years, Ken Livingstone has doubled his share of Council Tax. It is now time that Londoners saw more evidence of delivery and value for money.

"With the Mayor already delivering inflation busting fare and Congestion Charge increases, and the cost of the living in the capital so high, the last thing London's hard-pressed taxpayers need is a large Council Tax rise.

"At this stage it appears the choices are stark. Either the police's Safer Neighbourhood faces being scaled back, Council Taxpayers will face a leap in their bills, or Ken Livingstone will face the humiliation of being capped by his own party."

ENDS

Notes to editor

· According to Metropolitan Police Authority Papers discussed on the 4th November, the Mayor will need to increase his share of Council Tax by £31.8 million to fund next years policing commitments and a further £16million to reduce the budget deficit from this year.

Paragraphs 8 and 15 :-

http://www.mpa.gov.uk/committees/cop/2005/051104/08.htm

· In a report on the 2nd November 2005, the Local Government warned that:-

"Town halls face a £2.2 billion black hole in their finances - equivalent to a rise of 10 percent or around £100 a year in council tax bills - unless the Government injects substantial extra cash, local government leaders revealed today."

http://www.lga.gov.uk/PressRelease.asp?lsection=344&id=SX8A1C-A78344A6&ccat=344

These figures did not take into account the extra precept raised on London Council taxpayers by the Mayor and GLA.

· To fund the Olympics, £20 will be billed to every Band D household in the capital until at least 2012.