Ken Livingstone has called on Boris Johnson in a letter today to "ditch the dirty tricks - and have a debate with me on the fares issue so people can make up their minds": Dear Boris, There can be little doubt that the mayoral election has changed recently. Far from being the re-coronation you once hoped this contest would be, it’s now accepted that the race will be closely fought. Even some of your own Tory supporters have started complaining that you got complacent and had started taking London voters for granted. But no one could have expected that you would react so badly to a little bit of pressure. Suddenly the Conservative party in London is flailing around and lashing out. David Cameron has told you to raise your game. And you, in turn, seem to be getting pushed around by your campaign manager, Lynton Crosby. It has not taken much for your party to turn to the dark side. Some of us remember how Mr Crosby tried to import his nasty "dog whistle politics" when Michael Howard was leader of the Conservative Party in 2005. In Australia, he had helped conservatives win with tactics that included making false claims about refugees throwing their children out of boats. And now he's at it again.

• Latest news about Liverpool’s turnaround cruise application welcomed in Southampton
  
  By Southampton Labour
  Published 26 January 2012
• Home Office confirms Boris Johnson has cut the police
  
  By London Assembly Labour
  Published 26 January 2012

• John Denham MP signs Holocaust Memorial Day Pledge
  
  By Southampton Labour
  Published 26 January 2012
• Negative growth figures a damning indictment of failed Tory economic plan
  
  By Southampton Labour
  Published 25 January 2012

• It’s official: Boris admits 1,700 police jobs lost in two years
  Published 24 January 2012
  Boris Johnson admitted in an interview with LBC this morning that 1,700 police officers have been cut from Scotland Yard in the last two years. A spokesperson for Ken Livingstone said; "Londoners will have been shocked to hear Boris Johnson admitting that he has cut 1,700 police officers whilst robbery, knife crime and burglary were all rising in London. Only a Mayor who is completely out of touch with reality would cut police officers whilst violent crimes are rising." Listen to the interview on LBC here.  Read more »
• Londoners think Boris Johnson increasingly out of touch says new poll
  Published 23 January 2012
  Tessa Jowell said today; "This poll shows that Boris Johnson is increasingly out of touch with Londoners facing a squeeze in their living standards. They know that under Boris Johnson, fares have gone up; violent crime including knife crime and robbery are rising while the numbers of police keeping Londoners safe are being cut. Ken will put Londoners first by cutting bus, tube and train fares and making the streets safer by protecting police services." More on the COMRES/LBC Radio poll.  Read more »
• Boris Johnson calls Londoners workshy and lazy
  Published 20 January 2012
  Following Boris Johnson's attack on Londoners in The Sun this morning, Ken Livingstone said; "Tory Boris Johnson is calling Londoners workshy and lazy when in fact they're the hardest working people in the world. He's completely out of touch with reality. "Boris Johnson has two jobs, earning him £400,000 a year combined, so it is little wonder that he is so out of touch about how hard it is for many to find work in a city with some of the highest unemployment in Britain. "The Tory mayor seems oblivious to the real problems young Londoners face. He should be working round the clock to create new jobs for Londoners, but instead he has been silent as his Conservative government has cut EMA and raised tuition fees."  Read more »
• Boris Johnson cuts police as BCS figures show crime rising in London
  Published 19 January 2012
  Following the publication of British Crime Survey (BCS) statistics for the latest 12-month period to September 2011 (compared to same period in 2010) Ken Livingstone said; "Londoners will be shocked that Boris Johnson has cut the number of police officers in London by 1700 over the past 18 months while robbery, burglary and sexual offences have all risen." BCS statistics: * Sexual offences up by 1% * Robbery up by 13% * Burglary in people's homes is up by 8% * Car crime up by 2% and other forms of theft are up by 3% In the last quarter there have been more than 5,000 (5,205) more robberies, almost 7,000 (6,785) more burglaries in people's homes and a total of more than 20,000 more theft offences (20,881). Boris Johnson has cut 1,782 police officers from 33,260 in March 2010 to just 31,478 at the end of October 2011. Figures published last week by the Metropolitan Police Authority (MPA) showed the Tory Mayor had cut the number of police in all but one London boroughs over the last year, whilst rates of violent crimes including robbery, knife crime, rape and homicide have all risen over the same period.  Read more »

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