| Haringey Labour slams London Tories and Lib Dems. |
| Wednesday, 14 February 2007 |
Tottenham MP David Lammy, Haringey Labour Leader George Meehan, and local Assembly Member Joanne McCartney have welcomed the passage of the Mayor of London’s 2007-2008 budget and attacked London’s Tories and Liberal Democrats for voting against the consolidated budget that delivers extra police for London.
This afternoon, at the budget meeting of the London Assembly, Liberal Democrat
Assembly Members joined Tory and ‘One London’ Assembly Members to vote against the Mayor’s consolidated budget package which provides funding for the Greater London Authority itself as well as the London Development Agency, the Metropolitan Police Authority, the London Fire & Emergency Planning Authority and Transport for London.
Although all political groups backed the section of the Mayor’s budget for the Metropolitan Police Authority, and the Liberal Democrats backed Labour on free bus
travel for young people, only Labour and the Greens were prepared to agree the overall package which sets the council tax precept.
David Lammy MP, Labour Member of Parliament for Tottenham, said:
“The Lib Dems in Haringey and across London cannot go on pretending they back more police for London when year in, year out they vote against the funding package that pays for those extra police. Of the increase in the precept this year, over 82 p in every £1 extra will be spent on the Metropolitan Police Authority and over 10 p in every £1 will be spent on the London Fire & Emergency Planning Authority.”
Joanne McCartney, London Assembly Member for Enfield & Haringey, said:
“Free travel for London’s children has been safeguarded for now, but no one should doubt that the Tories will be back on this. They have a scorched earth agenda to savage services for London, hitting the poorest families hardest.”
Councillor George Meehan, Leader of Haringey’s Labour Council, welcomed the safeguarding of the free bus travel scheme and said:
“I’m delighted that free bus travel for our young people has been saved. But it is downright irresponsible for London Assembly Lib Dems to gang up with the Tories and vote against the Mayor’s budget. As always they say one thing and do another. They say they support the extra police on the streets and the budget for the Metropolitan Police, and then they vote against the overall budget, of which over 70% is for the police. Who do they think they are kidding?”
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