I've been out most of the day completing a podcast called Boris's London which will go live on Cif on Monday. Thank goodness, then, for Helene's report on the mayor's ERAP - as its known in the trade - and opposition AMs' sharp reactions to it:
The Conservative mayor said he wanted to introduce £1bn of savings and inject up to £2bn more cash into the London economy by freezing his share of the council tax and spending more money on supporting businesses as well as promoting tourism.
But he was accused of playing "Scrooge" by the London assembly, who pointed out that fare rises due to be introduced in the New Year rendered his claim to be keeping down Londoners' bills null and void.
When I've arranged to have a second life running parallel to my present one, I'll try to drill a little deeper into the budget and the ERAP and see how far Len Duvall is justified in describing it as "smoke and mirrors." Meanwhile, you can decide for yourselves. The budget's here (pdf), the ERAP's here (pdf). Now I'm off to a Hackney Homes awards show. Got a suit on and everything. It's all glamour, this blogging you know.
