§ Mr. Greenwayasked the Secretary of State for Transport if he is prepared to amend the Transport (London) Act 1969 in the light of the representations from the Greater London Council as set out in its current publicity campaign; what would be his estimate of the cost to London ratepayers of these proposals; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. David HowellI note that the leader of the GLC is now talking of pushing up its precept on London Boroughs to nearly 40p in the £—an increase of about twice over 1981–82. Were it now also to be enabled to revert to its low-fare, high-cost policies of last year, it would impose at leat a further £200 million levy on ratepayers. So the aim of the campaign for which "ratepayers" money is now being used would, if achieved, push rates up even higher. It would mean a further increase of nearly 60 per cent., taking the GLC precept to nearly treble the level when it took office less than a year ago.