Met appeal for identity of man allegedly involved in the City Hall incident on Wednesday

Metropolitan Police Officers appealing for information to identify a man following an assault on a security guard at City Hall on Wednesday morning, 16 September have today issued CCTV footage of the incident. The moving footage, from approximately 10:50hrs, shows a group of protestors forcing their way into City Hall. 

One man, who is described as white, around 50 years old and 6ft tall, can be clearly seen pushing the security guard, before turning and going in a different direction. The injured security guard was knocked unconscious, and taken by the London Ambulance Service to hospital where he was treated for concussion and released later that day.

Image of the man the Met Police want to speak to

Detective Chief Inspector Andy Barnes, from the Public Order Investigating Team, said: "I am appealing for information to trace the man seen in the footage we have released today. Someone will recognise him and I am asking them to come forward. The footage shows the level of violence used, which is unacceptable."

The man had a partly shaved head and a receding hairline. He was wearing black leather trousers and a black leather motorcycle jacket with a light brown stripe on the arms. Anyone with information is asked to contact the Met's Public Order Crime Unit on 020 8246 0068. If you wish to remain anonymous call Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.

We'd be better with Larry the Cat running City Hall

It is one year since Boris Johnson was re-elected Mayor of London. During the election campaign he made several high profile commitments, including: 1,000 more police, to “bear down” on fare rises and build 55,000 affordable homes. On all of these main promises Boris has failed to deliver. Leader of the Labour Group on the London Assembly, Len Duvall AM, today said “Boris promised Londoners a better future, all he’s delivered is broken promises”.

In the past year Boris Johnson:

• has raised transport fares above inflation for the fifth year running, despite promising to “bear down on fare rises”
• has cut 1,351 Police Officers and lost 497 Special Constables, despite promising 1,000 more Police Officers and extra Special Constables
• Failed to spend a £110million investment fund for growing London’s economy
• Failed to meet his own target of ending rough sleeping by the end of 2012
• Delivered just 1,672 social housing starts last year, down from 11,329 in the previous year - Failed to get control of the Tech City Investment Organisation from the government
• Is trying to cut 12 fire stations, 18 fire engines and 520 firefighters, none of which were presented to Londoners prior to May 2012
• Has cut council tax by 1penny a day for a Band D Household – enough to buy a pint once a year
• Delegated major decision and spending powers to unelected political appointees
• And is trying to spend £160,000 on a survey to find out what Londoners think about him

Leader of the Labour Group on the London Assembly, Len Duvall AM, said

“The last year has seen more of the same from Boris – hiking up transport fares, cutting our frontline emergency services and failing to tackle London’s housing crisis. We’ve seen plenty of Boris having private dinners and cosying up with Rupert Murdoch. All the while Londoners are struggling with a dual cost of living and housing crisis. Boris should be putting money in people’s pockets rather than taxing work with his eye-watering fare rises.

“Rather than preening himself in the national media Boris should be using his Mayoral powers to help ordinary Londoners. We are seeing severe cuts to our frontline police and fire services which help keep us all safe and secure. At the same time Boris is doing nothing to tackle the cost of living or housing crises in our city, instead he is making them worse. Let’s hope that his attention doesn’t drift off London anymore, at this rate we’d be better off with Larry the Cat running City Hall – maybe Boris could do a job-swap, at least it would get him into No10.”

Boris pledges 10% cut in council tax

Conservative Mayoral candidate Boris Johnson 

The Conservative party candidate, for the London Mayoral election, Boris Johnson has pledged this morning to cut the Mayor's share of council tax by 10% over the four years of the next mayoralty, if he wins on May 3rd. Mr Johnson who in his last budget cut his share of the council tax, a tax cut that the Labour party on GLA voted against, following three years of the mayor's share of council tax being frozen.

Boris Johnson has set about cutting waste in City Hall since being elected as Mayor in 2008. Mr Johnson who says he has already pledged to continue cutting out waste at City Hall and has this morning published his Cutting waste and council tax, now pledges. Mr Johnson's main commitments are: 

Cut council tax for every Londoner by at least 10%. This will be phased over the next four years, with a guaranteed cut every year and follows on from me freezing council tax for each of the past three years and cutting it this year. 

Save a further £1.5 billion across the GLA Group in the coming year, bringing total savings since I was elected to £3.5 billion – freeing money for services by cutting waste, including at Transport for London to help me to keep fares low in the long term, without wrecking the urgently needed modernisation of the network. 

Publish an itemised breakdown to show Londoners where the Mayor’s share of council tax is spent. 

Publish all GLA Group spending over £250, and the expenses and register of interests of senior staff, not just advisors, will be itemised online for the the first time, continuing the culture of transparency and openness I have introduced at City Hall.

Speaking Boris Johnson said: 

We are going through tough economic times, and Londoners are understandably concerned about their jobs and the cost of living. This is why my priorities over the last four years have been cutting waste and bureaucracy at City Hall and ensuring London taxpayer money is put where you want to see it spent. 

Every pound of Londoners’ money is precious, and should be spent in a clear, open and honest way on their priorities – creating jobs and making London safer. When I was elected the entire City Hall budget was in chaos. My determination to end the waste and mismanagement of the previous Mayor has freed up the money to pay for a strong plan for London’s future and we are putting that money where 

Londoners want to see it spent - in spite of the very difficult financial circumstances. I want to continue taking London forward, to deliver even greater value and even more transparency for Londoners. And every pledge that I have made in this election is also fully costed and fully funded. 

Ken Livingstone presided over a discredited regime that squandered taxpayers’ money on self- publicity, his jaunts to Cuba and Venezuela, and accusations of cronyism. This tarnished the reputation of London and resulted in Londoners having little trust in the Mayoralty.

I have worked hard to change this culture, stamping out waste and bringing transparency to spending. I have already cut £2 billion of waste across the GLA Group to free up investment for Londoners’ priorities, including putting 1,000 more police on London’s streets, and creating over 200,000 jobs over the next four years as well as investing in the modernisation of the transport network, and above all, holding down council tax.

And as your council tax bills show, we have made progress despite difficult times. At the Mayoral election on 3rd May this progress is at risk.

The choice at this election is between taking London backwards to the years of waste and division or to go forward with my plan to cut council tax, cut waste, and make sure that every penny of public money is spent on Londoners' priorities to make London the best big city to live in.