CITY HALL CONSERVATIVES COUNCIL TAX FREEZE VOTED DOWN BY LABOUR

Plans by City Hall Conservatives to freeze the Mayor’s share of council tax - which is set to rise from April - have been voted down and defeated by London Labour at the London Assembly today. 

The amendment to the Mayor’s Final Budget 2026/27, laid by Conservative Assembly Members, identified nearly £105m worth of savings for Sir Sadiq Khan which they say could be spent as follows:

• £65m to freeze the Mayor’s share of council tax for 2026/27, saving Londoners in Band D £20.13 a year

• £22.5m for the Metropolitan Police, who are facing a shortfall in their finances,

• £15m to go into a Pothole Repair Fund, to support Councils in fixing London’s roads,

• £1.5m to fund a London Exploitation Board to tackle grooming gangs.

  
  

City Hall Conservatives believe that this money could be raised by making appropriate savings in the Mayor’s staffing budget, as well as looking at Nominee Passes - free transport for TfL staff and a nominee of their choice - and London & Partners, which the Conservatives say does not provide value for money in its mission to “be London’s growth agency”. 

Today’s votes have also seen the final opportunity to save London’s police front counters from closure in the 2026/27 budget, with Assembly Member Emma Best working cross-party to propose savings which she believes would be enough to prevent any police counters from closing or having changes to their opening hours. Despite having the statutory power to prevent these closures by voting through the amendment, Labour have shamefully chosen to let police front counters disappear from communities amidst a crimewave in the capital. 

With these amendments defeated, the Mayor’s budget will proceed with tax rises and cuts to services, and the Assembly will not have a binding chance to make changes until February 2027 for the 2027/28 Budget.

In a quote, Neil Garratt AM, City Hall Conservatives Budget Spokesman said:

“Under a Labour Government, a Labour Mayor, and Labour Assembly Members, tax is up, unemployment is up, City Hall waste is up, but the services Londoners need are down. Cutting 2000 Met police officers since the election is the opposite of what Mayor Khan promised, so it’s no wonder people feel lied to. Today, Labour Assembly Members had the chance to work cross party to ease the cost of Sadiq Khan hitting Londoners who are already struggling with a cost of living crisis. They said no. The Mayor promised us a Labour Government would put the wind in the sails of a Labour Mayor, but today we saw that was just hot air. It’s high time the Conservative winds of change blew through City Hall, because Londoners deserve a fresh approach.”