Murad Qureshi, Londonwide Assembly Member writes as follows:

This week the Mayor confirmed that he is against freezing energy bills. At a time when Londoners are feeling the pinch you would have thought he would be supportive of measures to ease the cost of living crisis hitting our city. We need real action to help struggling families, under Boris we’ve had 5 years of inflation busting fare rises with another increase due to be announced soon. Recently he pushed through plans to increase rents for ‘affordable housing’ up to 80 per-cent of the market rate, this will increasingly push working Londoners out of their homes to make room for the better off. On top of squeezing people ever harder the Mayor is content to spend more on his advisors than the Prime Minister. Over £1.57 million a year of our money goes on his team at City Hall.

We are currently facing a cost of living crisis where prices are soaring and everyday necessities like food and bills are becoming unaffordable. The Mayor should use his position to ease the burden on ordinary Londoners. I have  launched a survey to find out how my constituents are coping with the cost of living crisis, you can complete this online at http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/5DM8PHC. I encourage all residents to take a couple of minutes and fill out the questionnaire to let me know how you are coping.

October 3, 2013