EMA tops Ken Livingstone's youth manifesto

Ken Livingstone launching his "EMAction day"

Labour candidate for Mayor of London, Ken Livingstone, today promoted his pledge to restore a London-wide EMA, the headline commitment in his Manifesto for Young Londoners. whistle-stop morning tour of Further Education colleges in the capital. In addition to the pledges to drive down the cost of living for all Londoners and cut fares by 7%, Ken’s promises to young Londoners, if elected in May include: 

1,Restoring the London-wide Education Maintenance Allowance
2,Re-establishing a London Child Poverty Commission
3,Creating a London Apprenticeship Offer, and piloting a pre-apprentice course.
4,Creating jobs for young Londoners from the Olympics legacy and across the GLA
5,Work with businesses to promote Saturday jobs
6,Providing safe place for young people who are threatened by gangs and violence
7,Campaigning against rises in tuition fees

Mr Livingstone said: “Young people in London face one of the toughest times in memory, with 1 in 4 young Londoners now unemployed, rising levels of poverty and inequality, and London becoming an increasingly expensive place to live. This is why Young Londoners need to be aware of what is at stake for their future, at this election.  By ensuring they are registered to vote and casting a Labour vote on May 3rd they will have a mayor who will ensure they are better off – from cutting the fares to restoring EMA for London.”

However Mr Livingstone has been roundly criticised by his opponents and independent sources such as Channel4's fact check team who described his pledge as "fiction" concluding that "Mr Livingstone does not have the power to automatically bring the EMA back to life. That said, it’s not impossible. He’d need to convince local colleges to pool their resources in order to make savings on the administration costs. Yet his team admit themselves that not all would be keen to do this. What’s more, it seems that pooling resources would save just a tiny fraction of the £55m needed to plug the gap between the old scheme and the new".

On tuition fees Mr Livingstone has always campaigned against them, as has his Conservative opponent Boris Johnson but as the The Politico Daily exposed on March 19th the Labour candidate talks about opposing tuition fees but when he was MP for Brent Central and Mr Blair's government brought in tuition fees, Mr Livingstone didn't bother to turn up to the vote let alone vote against them. As the same article shows Boris Johnson has repeatedly voted against tuition fees. 

On May 3rd young people may well vote for Ken Livingstone on the strength of the promise to "restore a London-wide Educational Maintenance Allowance" if Ken wins I believe the sense of betrayal when it finally hits home that he can't do it will be a bigger betrayal than that of Nick Clegg and the Liberal Democrats over tuition fees in 2010. Ken Livingstone, should he win, will reap what he sows as like Nick Clegg he will never be trusted again.

Ken Livingstone: spend now - worry later

Labour Leader Ed Miliband said during a speech in Derby this morning "Labour shouldn't make promises we can't keep". Very sound piece of advice after all look at Nick Clegg, expecting to remain in opposition after the 2010 general election told a massive whopper about tuition fees. However finger pointing at the Liberal Democrats isn't what this speech was about, it was about how Labour have changed. Not promising things you can't deliver even when activists are crying out for more.

Unfortunately Mr Miliband's advice seems to of been totally ignored by the "Labour" candidate for London mayor Ken Livingstone. During this campaign spend now - worry later Ken has made some wild claims such as: "London wide EMA of up to £30 a week to help young people stay in education". Now a laudable aim but Channel4's fact check cost this pledge at £55m a year and the way Ken says he'll fund it is impossible as he has no power to force colleges, universities and local authorities to pay for it. So once again young people being let down on higher education - but this time it'll be Ken Livingstone and not Nick Clegg that lets them down with a false promise.

Sticking with young people, spend now - worry later Ken has another unfunded policy for them. A cinema discount card for young people. A policy which will cost £13,513,381 per year or £54,053,528 over a  four term mayoralty. The only problem with this policy as it sounds great for young people but it relies on non-existent money to pay for it. Mr Livingstone doesn't say where one penny is coming from. So once again Ken Livingstone will be letting young people down with a promise he can't keep. Contray to what Ed Miliband has said Labour should be doing.

Moving on: Child care in the capital, well everywhere, is expensive and spend now - worry later Ken has come up with a pledge on this too. Offering £700 in upfront grants to low income families and offering "interest free" loans to those families earning up to £40,000. pa. Ken Livingstone in a press release confirmed this pledge will cost £3.4m per year which is £13.6m over a mayoral term. But like his previous pledges out lined yep you've guessed it - not one word about where one penny is coming from to pay for it.

This document shows that spend now - worry later Ken has made twenty four unfunded pledges at the cost of £2,685,996,270. This is without the fare pledge which will mean a £1.120,000,000. cut to the transport investment budget. Either he's making promises he knows he can't keep or he's planning a nasty council tax bombshell after the election if he wins.

Spend now - worry later Ken is on record as saying that he can't reveal his financial plan as the government will amend the localism bill to stop him, which is rubbish, so he'll reveal his plan after the election. He's already told the Standard he "will increase taxes" his plans would mean an extra £348 on every London council tax payers bill. That is on top of the £964 he whacked it up last time he was mayor. Current mayor Boris Johnson cut the council tax for millions of Londoners and the Labour party on the GLA voted against that cut, shows Labour's priorities

Ken has, this time, pledged to freeze the council tax but he promised to do that with fares last time he was mayor and once in he put them up. Talking of him putting fares up. His transport pledges will mean in increase in the congestion charge, which has pledged to freeze but he's also verbally pledged to "not reintroduce the western extension" of the congestion charge but in writing on page 7 here it says the complete opposite and he will reinstate the western extension.

Ed Miliband saying "we shouldn't make promises we can't keep" is clearly a concept alien to Ken Livingstone just like it is to Nick Clegg. Spend now - worry later Ken has made billions of pounds of extra spending commitments, promises to freeze taxes, cut fares and not to increase or extend the congestion charge. As Boris Johnson put it on LBC its simply "Wonga economics" spend now - worry later.

Just like Nick Clegg - Ken Livingstone can not be trusted to keep his promises to young people. But its not just young people who will be let down by Ken Livingstone it is every single Londoner who will be hit with either broken promises over the council tax or congestion charge increases or the very people who need the most help being let down by bogus pledges. Spend now - worry later maybe a catchy way to campaign but when its real people who will have to face the consequences its safe to say - Londoners can't afford Ken!

Ken knew his tax allegation was a lie

Labour mayoral candidate, Ken Livingstone, knew that his allegation that Boris Johnson indulges in the same tax avoidance as he does was a lie. Boris Johnson issued a rebuttal after Mr Livingstone made the initial allegation on the Andrew Marr show replying to Guido fawkes by saying:

Dear Guido, 

You have asked about my business affairs and tax arrangements. Specifically do I have any company or other arrangements constructed to enable me to pay less tax and do I, as has been claimed by the Labour Mayoral candidate and the Opposition Leader, have the same arrangements as Labour’s Mayoral candidate.

The answer is simple and unequivocal in both cases. No. 

My salary as Mayor is taxed as an employee of the GLA. In the same way as when I was an MP my salary was taxed as an employee. Any other income that I have received from outside endeavours has been received on a self-employed basis, to me as an individual (no company or other structure has been involved). No income earned by me has ever been paid to a “service” company, through which a person or person’s freelance earnings can be channeled so that they pay corporation rather than income tax.

To suggest otherwise is a complete and utter fabrication. 

Of course the real point is not about my tax arrangements. It is about the hypocrisy of a man who for years has railed against those who use special arrangements to reduce their tax and who has then been caught – bang to rights – doing the very same thing himself.

Boris Johnson 

I understand that Boris also took Ken to one side after a hustings debate, after Ken had repeated the same claim, to say its not true explaining the position as above and asked Ken not to say it again. Following the repeating of the allegation on LBC which he knows to be completely false I can understand why Boris reacted with such anger. After all as he currently pays income tax as fifty percent he could be paying just short of £200k a year in income tax. Ken Livingstone hasn't paid anywhere near that and by switching his earning to a company he avoided £50k in income tax.

Ken knowingly lied about Boris' tax affairs yesterday, what else did he knowingly lie about? He knew his claim on social housing was false. He claimed that in his last year as mayor he built 44% of social housing the actual figure was 34%. He claimed he wont introduce a £25 congestion charge but last year he knows that he did promise to introduce a £25 congestion charge. He claimed he wont extend the western extension zone but he promised the Labour party during the nomination election he would extend the western extension zone.

Ken also claimed he would bring back EMA for London, which he'd fund by making universities, colleges and local authorities pay for it. But legally he can not compel them to do so and most have said they will not do so. Ken claimed that current police numbers are 31,128. But the Metropolitan Police confirm there are over 32,000 warranted police officers and there will be 32,468 warranted officers so 1,340 more than Ken claimed and the Met's figures are in the public domain so Ken must of known what they are.

Ken also made a number of claims but the two that stuck out for me were "my expenses were miniscule" well he must know that he actually claimed over £66,000 in expenses while mayor. Including over £6,000 on alcohol. £6,404 on first class flights. £256 for a pair of shoes. £466 for dinner with a Cuban translator. So if Mr Livingstone believes that amount is "miniscule" he clearly needs to get back to the real world. He also claimed to of only had "4 lunches a year as mayor". Now that is a whooper he actually had 47 lunches and dinners in his last four years as mayor. And as he attended surely he should of known that.

Ken has shown that he knowingly lies. What can Londoners trust him on? After all he lies about his record which is easily checkable. He lies about his opponent's tax affairs when he already knows the truth. He lies about his own pledges when independent people have said he can't do it. He lies and scaremongers to frighten people into voting for him. He can't be trusted and saying last night he wants to "clean up politics" is the biggest lie of the lot he has spent his career smearing and mudslinging against opponents. Londoners simply can't believe a word Ken says.

Boris stands up for students - Ken doesn't turn up!

Recently during a visit to Barking with Jon Cruddas, Ken Livingstone stated that he had "voted against tuition fees when they had first been proposed whilst he was still an MP" now this claim simply isn't true. In the time Ken Livingstone was MP for Brent East and tuition fees came up for a vote, in the Commons, and it did on three occasions. It did so once on an opposition motion and twice in government bills.

When these votes happened I don't know where Ken was but he was not voting against the government. As shown on they work for you he was "absent" every single time. Now he does have the defence he didn't vote for tuition fees but he simply using mendacious language by saying he "voted against tuition fees" because as the record shows - he didn't.

As Ken can't be trusted on tuition fees and as Channel 4's Fact Check team have shown his pledge on EMA is simply "fiction" how can Ken Livingstone be trusted by students. They've been let down by Nick Clegg over tuition fees by his pledge at the last election. Ken's EMA pledge would be a double whammy really as he can't keep it as he wouldn't have the legal powers to do it.

As for Boris he opposes tuition fees, like Ken claims he does, but Boris as shown on they work for you has voted against tuition fees no fewer than five times. Boris opposes tuition fees and votes against them. Ken opposes tuition fees but doesn't vote against them. It is clear that students have been let down in the past by Ken but Boris had a chance to stand up for students and that is what he did.

Ken's pledges are "fiction"

Channel 4 news' factcheck team have described, Labour Mayoral candidate, Ken Livingstone's pledge to "save the EMA" as "fiction". Mr Livingstone said he would pool the burden of the administration costs into a new ‘EMA agency’. Explaining: “This will be done by bringing together existing funds in colleges, universities, and local authorities, and working with the Association of Colleges, London Higher and councils across London to deliver this.” 


The problem for Mr Livingstone is that the Mayor does not have the power over their budgets and could not compel them to do so. So he'd have to persuade them to cooperate with him. But even if they did agree, the DfE has said that they still wouldn’t be able to divert the money targeting the most vulnerable students who are guaranteed the £1,200 bursary.


This isn't the first promise of Ken's that factcheck have come down on. In January Ken launched his "fare deal" for London. Claiming that “We will carry out this ‘Fare Deal’ without cutting future investment or hitting services, which are funded by a separate budget.” He claims TFL has a surplus of £729m which is simply wrong and the claim that investment is on a separate budget is also incorrect. 


If Ken Livingstone did cut fares then TFL would lose £1.12bn income from fares. That couldn't be plugged without hitting day to day public transport or taking money from investment projects. It is clear once again Ken Livingstone is making promises that simply don't add up or are simply "fiction". It is worth remembering that in his autobiography Ken Livingstone admits breaking his promises in the past on cutting fares.