When Londoners vote in the London Mayoral and GLA Elections today, they face a clear choice between a better future, led by Boris, or a return to the past with Ken.
A vote for Boris for Mayor is a vote for the future, where we can look forward to more police officers on our streets and lower crime levels, a 10% cut in council tax, a better tube network and widespread investment in London’s transport network, new jobs, more green spaces and value for money from City Hall.
And Boris' record speaks for itself. During his four year term, crime has fallen by 16.6% in Barnet. By May 2012, there will be 50 more police officers, 4 more PCSOs and 52 more Special Constables on the streets and the introduction of single patrolling has lead to 4508 more patrols annually. Across Greater London there will be a 1000 more police than when Boris took over.
The Mayor's share of council tax has been frozen every year and is being cut in 2012/2013, saving the average household in Barnet £445. The upgrade of the Northern Line is going ahead after years of waiting under Labour and reliability on the line is at record levels. Dollis Valley Green Walk has received £400,000 from the Mayor’s fund to improve the quality and safety of London’s parks. And Chipping Barnet High Street has received an economic boost of £416, 685 from the Mayor’s outer London Fund to support the capital’s high streets.
Or London can be dragged back to the bad old days by Ken Livingstone when suburbs like Barnet were neglected, the Mayor’s share of council tax rose by 152%, City Hall was rocked by scandal, 3.5 million pounds of your money was spent on his propaganda magazine and millions of pounds were wasted on trips to Cuba and other left wing pet projects.
And now Mr Livingstone is back to his old tricks, making promises he cannot hope to keep, because the funding simply doesn’t exist. His promises on fare cuts just don’t add up and would derail Boris’ vitally important upgrade of London’s transport network, jeopardising reliability and condemning commuters to worse and worse levels of overcrowding.
The result of this election is likely to be extremely close. But unless you vote for Boris, you risk four years of council tax rises, broken promises, cronies, hypocrisy and waste under Ken Livingstone.
Use your vote to keep London moving in the right direction by voting Conservative three times today; once for Boris, once for Brian Coleman and once for the Conservatives.