Londoners hit with 71pc increase in charges under ‘Sadiq’s stealth tax’

Tory sources also accuse Sadiq Khan of having a ‘messiah complex’ which involves spending huge sums of taxpayer money on ‘vanity projects’ – JUSTIN TALLIS/AFP via Getty Images

Londoners have seen a 71 per cent surge in charges under a “Sadiq stealth tax” during the mayor’s time in office, new figures show.

Mayors have legal powers to impose a levy, known as a “mayoral precept”, on the populations they serve.

Families in London are currently charged an average of £471 per household, which is the highest figure in the country for this type of tax.

The levy has increased from an average of £276 when Sadiq Khan took office in 2016.

And the Mayor of London’s draft budget proposals include an increase of £37, an increase of nine per cent.

The Greater London Authority (GLA) introduced a mayoral precept in 2000 when the mayor’s office was first established with Ken Livingstone at the helm. He oversaw the biggest increase, raising it by 152 per cent by the end of his time as mayor in 2008.

Meanwhile, when Boris Johnson was mayor of London – between 2008 and 2016 – he left the mayoral precept 11 per cent lower than he found it, figures show.

Tory sources accused Mr Khan of levying a “Sadiq stealth tax” on Londoners and having a “messiah complex” which involves spending huge sums of taxpayers’ money on “vanity projects” such as renaming train lines.

Earlier this year Mr Khan was accused of ‘virtue-signalling nonsense’ after renaming London Overground lines in a tribute to multiculturalism and feminism – JUSTIN TALLIS/AFP via Getty Images

Of the 11 mayors in England elected before 2024, just four have introduced a mayoral precept, which is charged on top of council tax.

The Conservative Party has pointed out that these four – Cambridgeshire and Peterborough, Greater Manchester, the Liverpool City Region and London – are all led by a Labour mayor.

In Greater Manchester, the mayor’s precept has gone up by 66 per cent during Andy Burnham’s time in office and is now £113 per household.

Cambridgeshire and Peterborough first imposed a precept of £12 last year and tripled it this year to £36. Liverpool’s precept has remained at £19 since it was introduced in 2019.

Meanwhile, Andy Street, the Conservative mayor in the West Midlands, and Lord Houchen, the Tory mayor of Tees Valley, do not charge families the extra levy.

Unlike most other combined authorities, the GLA, which is overseen by Mr Khan, is responsible for police and fire services.

Earlier this year Mr Khan was accused of “virtue-signalling nonsense” after renaming London Overground lines in a tribute to multiculturalism and feminism.

He announced that the overground network’s 103 miles of interconnecting tracks, which are currently marked in orange on transport maps, would be split into six new identities.

‘Sadiq has broken London’

Louie French, the Tory MP for Old Bexley and Sidcup, said: “For eight long years Sadiq Khan has run London, and he’s run it badly. Crime is up. The police are in special measures and the transport network is riddled with delays.

“But it’s not just drivers paying the cost of Khan’s flawed ideology and mismanagement of City Hall. At every opportunity, he has hiked up his share of Londoners’ council tax. Sadiq has broken London and Londoners are paying for it”

Total council tax bills – accounting for the borough and City Hall’s share – in London are in fact lower than in the other regions run by mayors, at £1,906 on average for Band D properties in 2024/25. This is largely the product of councils like Wandsworth, Westminster and Hammersmith & Fulham charging the lowest rates in the country.

However, due to the GLA precept, Londoners have been subjected to the steepest overall increases over the past five years – 28 per cent. Since Mr Khan took office, total council tax bills are up 45 per cent.

Figures relate to average value properties – those falling in Band D when they were valued on the open market in 1991.

A spokesman for Mr Khan said: “This election is a close two-horse race between Sadiq, and the hard-right Conservative candidate for mayor who couldn’t be more out of touch with our city and its values.

“Susan Hall would cancel free school meals and reverse Sadiq’s TfL fares freeze. She is a supporter of Donald Trump, cheered Liz Truss’s disastrous mini-budget, and has promoted racist comments by Enoch Powell on social media.”

Play The Telegraph’s brilliant range of Puzzles – and feel brighter every day. Train your brain and boost your mood with PlusWord, the Mini Crossword, the fearsome Killer Sudoku and even the classic Cryptic Crossword.