Sadiq Khan came under pressure last night after new figures revealed that he is on course to spend £30 million more on City Hall bureaucrats than his predecessor, Boris Johnson.
City Hall staffing costs stood at £36 million when Khan came to office four years ago, but this figure is set to leap by an eye-watering 82 percent to £65.5 million next year.
The multi-million-pound cash splurge will fund a 45 percent increase in the number of full-time equivalent (FTE) posts at City Hall. The total number of FTE positions is on course to hit 1302 by 2020/2021, up from just 897 in 2016.
GLA Conservatives Leader Susan Hall said that the Mayor’s decision to blame government cuts for London’s crime epidemic while splurging millions on his own staff was “deeply dishonest”.
Khan came under pressure earlier this month after it was revealed that he had increased spending on his own press office by 26 percent since being elected nearly four years ago.
Commenting, GLA Conservatives' Leader Susan Hall AM said:
“Londoners will be shocked but sadly not surprised to learn that Sadiq Khan is finishing his term as London Mayor in the same way he started: by shelling out millions on waste while failing to get to grips with some of the biggest problems facing Londoners on a day-to-day basis.
“The millions of Londoners who feel increasingly unsafe in their own city will seriously question why Sadiq Khan has chosen to spend all of this money on his own staff rather than investing in our brilliant police force. Time and time again Sadiq Khan has shown that he has completely the wrong priorities for London.
“Questions will rightly be asked about how the Mayor has been able whack up his own staff bill by 83 percent while at the same time claiming that he doesn’t have the money to tackle London’s sky-high crime rates. This is deeply dishonest, and just goes to show how complacent Sadiq Khan has been in the face of rising violent crime”.
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