Sadiq Khan accused of misleading London Assembly over £30m Tube deal

Sadiq Khan refused to confirm the amount he offered Tube unions to avert a strike

Mayor Sadiq Khan has been accused of misleading the London Assembly over the £30m he offered unions to avert a new year Tube strike.

London Assembly budget committee chair Neil Garratt, a Tory, said Mr Khan had wrongly claimed three times the sum was incorrect, at an early-January meeting.

Mr Khan said he had refused to confirm the figure until it appeared in budget papers and unions had been briefed.

But Mr Garratt said the matter called the mayor's transparency into question.

Mr Khan was challenged as he set out spending plans for next year at a City Hall meeting - which became heated at times.

• Free primary school meals set to be extended

• Tube strikes called off as more pay talks planned

Susan Hall, his Conservative opponent for the mayoral election to be held on 2 May, accused Mr Khan of "squirrelling away" money to enable a pre-election giveaway, including a freeze of Transport for London (TfL) fares and a second year of free school meals for older primary school pupils.

The mayor was also accused of a lack of transparency by Green London Assembly member Sian Berry over his decision to freeze TfL fares.

The decision was announced last Friday, a day after Ms Berry had asked about a £120m reduction in revenue that signalled a fares decision had been made.

The mayor should tell assembly members before the press about such important decisions, she said.

Money 'down the back of the sofa'

Mr Khan said the voters would offer their verdict on his "prudent" financial planning, along with a greater-than-expected fares revenue and what he said was the success of his promotional campaign Let's Do London, which the mayor claimed had brought in more business rates than were forecast.

Opponents claimed Mr Khan had suddenly found more than £500m "down the back of a sofa" since last month.

The extra money was identified once the level of government funding and business rates revenue were known, said the mayor.

Mr Khan is due to meet Home Secretary James Cleverly later, in what could become a deepening dispute over money for the Metropolitan Police.

The mayor said the government should "step up" to help fill a £40m "black hole" in police finances and also meet commissioner Sir Mark Rowley's request for an extra £140m to implement reforms to the Met identified as necessary by Baroness Casey's damning review.

The Home Office has said the Met receives the most funding per head compared with the rest of England and Wales.

A Home Office spokesperson said: "Decisions about how funding and resources are utilised in London is a matter for the commissioner of the Met Police and the democratically elected mayor of London."

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