Boris Johnson to save Londoners three whole pounds

In a truly momentous announcement, Boris Johnson today said that he would cut his share of the council tax by a whopping 1%.

Thousands of Londoners were set to storm City Hall in jubilation as they realised that Boris could save them an earth-shattering £3 for the entire year.

One commuter queueing up at one of London's lesser-spotted ticket offices told this blog:

"I was pretty angry about the hundreds of pounds Boris has cost me in fare increases, but now that he's offering me £3 back I think I can forgive him. I could almost afford a single tube ticket with that."

At almost one penny's worth of saving per household per day, Boris's precept cut is likely to transform the Mayoral race and possibly even the UK economy.

A spokesperson for Boris's campaign said:

"This shows that Boris Johnson is truly in touch with the pressures that ordinary Londoners face, unlike that Commie, North Korean, extremist, liar Ken Livingstone."

A source close to the Mayor denied that Boris will now also reverse his plan to raise fares by 2% above inflation every year for the foreseeable future.

"No of course we're still going ahead with that. What are we, made of money?"

Will the £25 gas-guzzler charge ruin Ken Livingstone's chances?

Ken Livingstone's supporters have blamed lots of people for his defeat in 2008.

The Evening Standard, Gordon Brown and outer Londoners have all received their share, but there's one bigger issue that I think they've overlooked.

I've always thought that the £25 gas-guzzler charge did more to damage his chances last time than any other policy.

In theory the charge was a good idea, and would only have affected a relatively small number of drivers.

But I suspect the number of people who wrongly thought they were going to be hit by the charge, was much higher.

What was in reality a localised charge on only the most polluting vehicles, quickly became seen by many as a London-wide tax on all larger cars.

Londoners of all classes, both inner and outer, saw the looming prospect of a £25 charge and jumped straight into the arms of Boris.

This can be seen in the polling done at the time. 

One poll (commissioned by Ken) gave lots of detail about the scheme including which vehicles would be affected and which would be taken out of charging altogether.

After receiving all of this information, the poll showed widespread backing for the scheme. 

However another poll which asked simply about "increasing the congestion charge to £25 a day for higher polluting cars” found much narrower support at 41% to 39%.

And another more detailed poll showed that 74% of Londoners and 65% of Ken's voters thought the proposed £25 charge was too high.

That's a lot of opposition to what was Ken's big new policy for a third term.

And sure enough, the next poll conducted after this policy was announced showed Boris Johnson in the lead for the first time. A lead which Ken never recovered.

Of course there's no way of knowing for sure that it was the gas-guzzler charge that did it for Ken. 

But in a close election, it is exactly the kind of issue that could swing the balance.

In an interview today, Livingstone tells the Guardian that the gas guzzler charge is "definitely an idea we will revisit."

If I was him, I would make it a short visit.

Boris Johnson's campaign wastes a month on a fantasy

I wrote two weeks ago about Boris Johnson's fake campaign for an inevitable council tax freeze.

Day after day, thousands of Boris's supporters have been encouraged to spam London Assembly Members for no discernable purpose:

Emails have been sent, tweets composed, and leaflets prepared in favour of something that will happen anyway. No matter what anyone does.

The freeze, which is being implemented by almost every other local authority in the country, is supported by both Labour and the Lib Dems (who actually want to cut council tax).

Nobody wants to stop it, and even if they did, it would be impossible unless Boris Johnson's own Assembly Members voted against it.

That isn't going to happen. The freeze will take place, and Londoners will storm City Hall in gratitude at the literally handful of pounds it will save them this year.

Not content with campaigning for the inevitable, Boris's campaign have also tried to claim that Ken Livingstone's running mate is "leading the charge" against it.

Their source for this claim is an out of context footnote from a press release for the Labour proposals, which actually backs the freeze.

What's surprising about this is not the dishonesty. It's the incompetence of it.

After wasting six months talking about national rather than London issues, Boris has now wasted the best part of a month on a fantasy.

And what has he got for it? One article in the Croydon advertiser, and a handful of other articles explaining what a waste of time it is.

In case Boris hasn't noticed, the election is only a few months away now.

In order to win he needs to do more than manufacture inevitable victories. He needs to persuade Londoners that he's in touch with their concerns.

Will he manage it? So far the signs don't look good. 

At this week's budget debate, Tory AM Steve O'Connell asked Boris about a claim "from a very good source" that Ken wants to reverse his booze ban on the tube.

Needless to say Livingstone has no such plans. 

O'Connell's fantasy claim, was followed up by a reply from Boris that Ken would probably make drinking on the tube "compulsory." An obvious smear.

And so after two polls putting Boris behind Ken, it's clear that the only lesson they have learnt is to go even more negative against Ken.

Will it work? Possibly. They had plenty of practice in 2008 and Boris has no shortage of former colleagues and toadies in the press to do his dirty work for him.

But in order to win Boris also needs to face up to reality. At Wednesday's meeting Boris boasted that he was "leading the city to a strong economic recovery."

This was on the same morning that we learnt that we are heading back into recession.

This does not suggest that he is in touch with the concerns of ordinary Londoners.

Unfortunately for his supporters, it also suggests he's not even in touch with his own campaign.

Do Labour actually want to win the Mayoral election?

We know that Ken Livingstone does. He's wanted it ever since May 3rd 2008 and has spent every day since then trying to win it.

But what about the rest of his party? Take this tale from Amol Rajan at the Independent:

"In November I sat next to one of the failed candidates for Labour's leadership at dinner. He was so utterly hateful of Ken and dismissive of his chances that I presumed he was exceptional in the party. But in fact senior Labour figures have been briefing against Ken for weeks. If they want control of London again, that should stop."

That is of course, assuming that they do want to win back control of London. And so far I'm far from convinced.

Ken and his team have been in opposition now for four years and are beginning to show that they want and know how to get back into power.

Nationally however, the party seem locked in a permanent state of opposition. Opposition that is, to themselves.

Hardly an hour goes by online without some new squabble, defection, or flame war between one or other of the barely distinguishable, but for some reason bitterly opposed, wings of the party.

And so pleased are they with this game of battleships that they have forgotten that there is a major and very much winnable election taking place right under their noses.

Their strategy is to play down the importance of the Mayoral elections so that if (and many of them assume when) Ken loses, they won't be tarnished too much by association.

This is the strategy of the loser.

Asked by LBC this week whether a Ken Livingstone win mattered to Ed Miliband, former minister Tessa Jowell replied that he was far more concerned with the general election in a few years time.

Jowell and her colleagues appear to have bought into the conventional wisdom that Boris is a dead cert to win.

He isn't. His achievements have been minimal and he is nowhere near as popular amongst Londoners as he is amongst lobby journalists in Westminster.

Luckily for Labour, Boris also appears to have bought into the conventional wisdom about himself and has spent the past six months obsessing about national rather than London issues.

And whilst Boris's head is stuck in the Thames Estuary sand, there is a real opportunity for Labour to move in and occupy the city he's deserted.

As the polls this week have shown, it is more than possible for Labour to do this. The only question is, do they really want it?