What’s the toughest pub quiz question in London? “Name the Deputy Mayors.”

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If you struggled to bring even one to mind, I’ll give you half a mark for knowing there are nine. Each costs around £200k in salary and benefits, not counting their personal support staff, but this is barely the start of the waste at City Hall.

Since today is London Budget Day, let’s lift the lid on the waste, the misplaced priorities, and imagine how things could be better.

In Mayor Johnson’s last budget, City Hall staff costs ran to £36 million. You might think that’s a lot given it’s purely the Mayor’s HQ team which does not cover any police, transport, or fire personnel, but under Khan this has ballooned to £122 million.

When you remember the scandals at the Met police, the Tube graffiti they never seem to clean, and the crisis in London housing, you might wonder what all these extra people are doing. You might suspect the money could be better spent.

Yet the Mayor’s endless demands for more government cash continue, as does his commitment to crank up your Council Tax. The part he controls, the Mayoral Precept, is about to hit £510 for a Band D property, up by 80% since he took office.

How does he justify that, when everyone feels so squeezed? He might have forgotten the cost of living crisis, but Londoners haven’t.

Here’s the good news: the Conservative Alternative Budget helps Londoners cope with the cost of living by freezing the Mayoral precept, while using City Hall money to tackle real problems.

For starters, surely five Deputies ought to be enough for anyone. Deputy Mayor number 10 left City Hall in 2024, there’s no plan to replace her and it’s not clear anyone even noticed.

We can repeat this four more times saving an easy £1 million, before even looking at the over-staffing at TfL HQ and the rest of City Hall. So with the savings, what would we do differently?

My top priority is to support our police to keep London safe. In the 2024 election, the Mayor promised 1300 extra police but since then London has lost 2000 police officers, with cuts to everything from front counters to Royal Parks.

Knife point robbery has doubled under Khan, phone theft is out of control, and every corner of the Met is facing tough choices.

You deserve a City Hall that makes your safety a priority, and that’s what Conservatives will deliver. Our amendment puts more than £22 million straight back into frontline policing.

While we’re making the streets safe, let’s also tackle some potholes. Whether you’re on the bus, a bike, or driving your car, London’s roads are beyond a joke.

Stretched councils need help, so our amendment would give them £15 million a year to tackle the problem and smooth your journey.

Even better, because we’d pay for it with recurring savings, this would be £15 million every year. That lets councils plan ahead with secure long term funding.

While putting money back in your pocket and making our streets safer, the Conservative Alternative Budget would protect every City Hall service from buses and Boris bikes to Fire and affordable housing.

Today, the London Assembly has a clear choice: vote to saddle Londoners with higher taxes for worse services, or recognise that Londoners are already squeezed enough and back our amendment.

No tax rises, no raiding the reserves, just total focus on making life in London better. Sadly, Labour’s block vote looks set to win the day.

So when your Council Tax bill arrives, look closely at the ever-growing slice taken by the London Mayor and ask yourself if you could find something better to spend that money on.

The Mayor’s HQ team be your first choice...

Neil Garratt AM is the Conservative Assembly Member for Croydon & Sutton, and City Hall Conservatives Budget Spokesman

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