ULEZ and TfL toilets among Sadiq Khan's £512m London spending plans

Sadiq Khan has unveiled a £512m spending boost in his City Hall budget for 2024/25, including more cash for the ULEZ scrappage scheme and more toilets on the Tube network.

But the Labour mayor has been criticised by opposition London Assembly members who claimed the “surprise money” had clearly been “hoarded” for an election year.

Khan’s budget covers the financial income he has control over – including his share of council tax - the ‘precept’ - which is set to rise by almost £37.36 for Band D properties in April, TfL fare income and business rates.

Mr Khan’s revised budget for 2024/25 includes a £512m spending “uplift”. It covers £140m for free school meals, £147 million per year for transport innovations and £50 million to extend TfL’s vehicle scrappage scheme.

There will be £3m to provide more toilets at Tube stations and an additional £88.4m additional funding for MOPAC (Mayor’s Office for Policing and Crime) and the Met Police.

The £37.36 council tax increase equates to a £1.08 a month increase for the Metropolitan Police, £1.67 a month increase for Transport for London and 36p a month increase for the London Fire Brigade.

The mayor said: “This budget will help us to continue building a fairer, greener and safer London for everyone. 

“This includes funding to support Londoners through the cost-of-living crisis, like delivering free school meals to all state primary schools for another year, saving families up to £1,000 per child, and extending funding for another year for free holiday meals.”

He added: “I’m stepping up and providing an extra £88m to fund our police where ministers have failed. 

“As mayor, I’m having to use all the levers at my disposal to provide urgent additional funding from City Hall, particularly for the police.”

His rival party members branded the revised budget as a “sticking plaster” and claimed it confirmed “he can’t manage money”.

Caroline Pidgeon, Lib Dem assembly group leader, said: “This is a sticking plaster budget from the Mayor in an attempt to try and see himself through the upcoming election. 

“Magically, the mayor seems to have found pots of money that only a few weeks ago he was denying existed.

“Our emergency and transport services are creaking at the seams and overstretched, and this budget won’t fix that.”

Peter Fortune, a Tory member of the London assembly, said: “An extra half a billion in additional ‘surprise money’ has turned up since Christmas. Money hoarded and not used. Money stored up for an election year.”

City Hall Conservatives leader Neil Garratt said: “Sadiq Khan’s draft budget confirms he can’t manage money. Last night, the mayor announced he has found half a billion pounds of Londoners’ money down the back of the City Hall sofa since December. 

“Half of this money has come from reserves - money Sadiq Khan stashed away while crying poor and receiving billions in taxpayer bailouts from the government. Sadiq Khan has left the Met £143m short of the money it needs to finish reforms to stamp out misogyny, racism and homophobia. The mayor claimed that was his priority, so why has he decided not to fund it?

“We look forward to examining Sadiq Khan’s proposed budget in detail at the Budget plenary next week and uncovering more wasteful spending from this tax and spend Mayor.”

The final draft budget will be released in February and must be approved by the London Assembly.