Ken won't take no for an answer

8:15am Friday 24th November 2006

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MAYOR of London Ken Livingstone is under fire again after it was revealed he has spent more than £1 million repeatedly asking the public if they want the west London tram - and they are still telling him "no."

Councillor Jason Stacey has accused Mr Livingstone of ignoring Ealing residents' view by repeatedly ploughing taxpayers' money into consultations even though the public are saying they don't want it.

And now a Capital Radio Freedom of Information Act request has exposed that the cost of these consultations has now topped £1 million.

Speaking on the radio station Jason Stacey said: "It does surprise me in terms of the high cost of the consultations, especially as we actually could have told him the outcome probably from the start.

"Mayor Livingstone has continued despite the local election results earlier this year, so it's really no surprise now that he is going to ignore the residents once again and carry on.

"I suspect the only time he'll actually listen is when the electorate kick him out.

"He's had the poll results, the people of the area have spoken quite clearly, yet he's decided to proceed. I don't see how that is a good use of taxpayers' money."

The most recent polls show 44 per cent of people are against the tram with 40 per cent in favour of it.