The budget includes:

• A better and fairer fares package, including a One Hour Bus Ticket, the introduction of part-weekly Travelcards, the reintroduction of a one-day Zone 2 – 6 Travelcard and a lower ‘early bird’ fare for tube, DLR and TfL rail;
• The reinstatement of 150 police sergeant posts that have been removed from Safer Neighbourhood Teams across London; and
• Action to start switching all of London’s bus fleet to electric buses by 2020.

The steps that will pay for this include abolishing perks for staff, selling properties and tackling fare evasion. That will also free up funds to cut the Greater London Authority’s share of Council Tax bills by 3.2%.

Mike Tuffrey, Liberal Democrat London Assembly Group Budget spokesperson, said:

When most Londoners are struggling with zero pay rises and increased household costs, it is wrong that the Mayor is not helping them in these tough economic times.

By slashing waste, perks and unnecessary expenditure our proposals enable services to be protected whilst giving many Londoners a much needed tenner back in their pockets.

Hearing him attack Boris Johnson is certainly not a surprise.

But hearing him attack Boris Johnson for saying what Ken Livingstone himself said previously? That’s a bit odd, shall we say.

Compare and contrast now and then.

The now:

Boris Johnson and Ken Livingstone were engulfed in a war of words today over whether Londoners are too “lazy” to find work. The Mayor claimed some young people in the capital lacked the “energy” to go out and get jobs which were instead going to immigrants. His Labour challenger Ken Livingstone immediately accused him of branding Londoners “lazy and workshy”.

And the then:

The Mayor [Ken Livingstone] has attacked Londoners who are too lazy to hold down jobs. He said many of the long-term unemployed could not be bothered to get out of bed in time.

You can view the amazing 360 degree panorama of London by Will Pearson here.

The bad news: the Met still spent £16,879 on around 55,000 calls to the speaking clock.

Hat-tip: Evening Standard

Boris Johnson has been Mayor of London since 2008. In just four years he has increased the cheapest bus fare from 90p to £1.35 – and he had planned to raise fares even further until the Coalition Government stepped in and helped limit the rise. As well as bus fares, the cost of travelling on the Tube, the Docklands Light Railway, the Croydon Tramlink and the London Overground have all soared under Mr Johnson’s mayoralty.

Of course there is the argument that investment in public transport has to be paid for by someone, and surely passengers have to pay their fair share? There is of course an element of truth in that. Yet accepting that there is still a need for investment to continue in the tube network, does that let Mayor Johnson off the hook? Of course not. There are realistic alternatives to his fare policies.

To find out what they are, read Caroline Pidgeon’s post over on Lib Dem Voice.

So for seven weeks or so, the law abiding get to pay more and the law breakers get away with frozen fine levels.

As Liberal Democrat London Assembly member Caroline Pidgeon says:

At a time when the Mayor is hiking up fares for honest passengers it is totally wrong that he is failing to take decisive action against those who are playing the system.

The excuse given is that time is required to update the official warning posters. Except … the plan to increase fares and fines was all put into place last year and there was plenty of time to get the posters right in time for 2nd January.

You can follow the Liberal Democrat GLA members and candidates, including this new account, in one place via the list twitter.com/markpack/london-assembly.

Figures show that Met officers took 1,497 business class flights in the last financial year at a cost to the taxpayer of £2,675,768.

A total of £44,000 was spent flying Met staff first class – mostly accompanying VIPs requiring constant police protection.

Officers flew first or business class to 77 destinations last year, including short-haul trips to Ireland, France and Austria.

Liberal Democrat Assembly member Dee Doocey today said the purchase of business class tickets for short-haul European flights was “indefensible”…

Baroness Doocey said: “Business class travel at a time when the Met is being forced to cut its budget by 25 per cent is outrageous.

“This is a grotesque waste of money and totally indefensible for short-haul flights to European destinations. It is also difficult to understand why so many Met officers need to travel business class on long-haul flights.”

She added: “The Met should ban these perks immediately and concentrate its resources instead on maintaining police officer numbers.” (Evening Standard)