THE Tory candidate for the Ealing and Hillingdon seat in the GLA has challenged the London Mayor to show he cares about the west London boroughs.

Richard Barnes, who has held the seat for eight years, told supporters at a rally today that London Mayor Ken Livingstone has spent more time in Cuba than Hillingdon as Mayor.

Mr Barnes was joined by party supporters outside St Martin's Church in High Street, Ruislip, with a banner saying "Where is Ken?".

He said: "It's interesting as since he has been mayor Ken Livingstone has been to Havana more times than Hillingdon., and it takes an election to get him here.

"In central London there are always buses queuing up, but out here there has still not been a proper solution to the north-south traffic problems, or even a nightbus"

Mr Barnes also said he feels his opponents for the Ealing-Hillingdon seat, Ranjit Dheer (Labour) and Nigel Bakhai (Lib Dem) have "given up" on the election.

He said: "It's almost as if they've given up, but it's an election and it will be a fight right to the end."

Concillor Douglas Mills (Con, Ruislip and Hillingdon), also criticised Mr Livingstone's commitment to the borough.

He said: "The point we are trying to make is Mr Livingstone spends more time in the inner London Boroughs than he does in these outer boroughs.

"Boris Johnson (Tory mayoral candidate) has already been here a couple of times, and if he gets elected he has said he will work much more closely with us as a council.

"Mr Livingstone has said his seat points firmly east as mayor, and you can see that in his policies like the low emission zone, which has had a negative impact on boroughs like ours."