London's Assembly Member for Ealing and Hillingdon is calling on Boris Johnson to cut transport fares, freeze council tax and put 1,000 extra police officers on the capital's streets.

Mr Sahota asked the London Mayor to accept fully-funded amendments to his 2015/16 budget during a debate at City Hall last Wednesday (January 28).

The proposal to fund an extra 1,025 police officers would mean the equivalent of an additional 33 officers back in Ealing and in every other London borough.

This comes amid concerns that violent crime in Ealing has risen by 17% in the last year and reports that only 54% of local people now believe police have a visible presence.

Mayor’s cuts to local neighbourhood policing have contributed to the loss of 4,333 uniformed officers across London since 2010, 151 of these in Ealing.

Mr Sahota also supported plans to reverse the 2.5% hike imposed on commuters this year and to reverse the removal of off-peak pay as you go caps for zones 4-6, which has seen fares rise as much as 38%.

The cut to travel costs would save the average commuter £56 a year on a 1-6 Annual Travelcard.

Though blocked at last week's meeting, the Mayor can revisit the proposals on February 23 when the London Assembly comes together for a final vote on the £17bn Mayor's budget.

Mr Sahota said: “The Mayor’s budget as it stands does nothing to address the serious concerns people in Ealing have about rising transport costs and a grossly diminished police force.

“This January Londoners faced the seventh year of fare increases. There is ample funding as a result of TfL underspends, so it is bewildering that Boris has allowed fares to rise faster than wages.

“Whilst Boris’ tokenistic council tax cut would save Londoners seven pence a week, cutting fares to last year’s levels would save the average commuter far more each year. ”

The package of amendments to the Mayor’s budget included freezing GLA’s share of council tax and putting the money saved by cancelling the Mayor’s proposed cut (which would save just 1p per day for each London household) into funding for new police officers. This would be boosted by additional funding drawn from a combination of savings within the Met’s existing budget, and from business rates.

The 2.5% cut to fares would be funded by using TfL underspends of £81 million and increasing the target for savings.