London Assembly members agreed to ask the mayor that any additional funding be spent on two key areas, reports Kumail Jaffer, Local Democracy Reporter

Sadiq Khan being quizzed on his budget by the London Assembly (credit Kumail Jaffer LDRS)

Any additional funding that City Hall receives in the coming months must be spent on policing and making tube stations step-free, Mayor of London Sir Sadiq Khan has been told.

Liberal Democrat assembly members backed a Labour group motion on the matter during an all-assembly plenary session on Khan’s 2026/27 draft budget.

Krupesh Hirani, who represents Brent and Harrow, argued that any extra funding that may come from central government as a result of a larger-than-expected integrated settlement and the impact of the business rates review, should be targeted at those two key areas.

His motion read that, “should the mayor’s final budget position have greater funding levels than assumed in the draft budget”, the extra cash would go towards the Metropolitan Police and Transport for London (TfL), specifying funding the network’s aim of making 50% of stations step-free by 2030.

The motion, which required a simple majority to pass at this stage, was voted through by Labour and Liberal Democrat members, with the nine Conservative members voting against and the Green and Reform groups abstaining.

The vote is non-binding, which means the mayor does not have to accept the outcome but will now be forced to produce a response as to why he will accept or reject the proposal when he presents his final budget next month.

A spokesperson for Khan told the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS): “The mayor will consider these amendments before publishing his final budget in February.”

After the vote, Hirani said the Labour group’s motion was intended to “give the mayor direction” on where any extra funding should go.

“Compared to the initial consultation process, which began in December, there has been a better than expected settlement from the government, and there’s still a major uncertainty around how the business rate reforms will affect the money that’s coming into City Hall,” he told the LDRS.

“What we want to achieve as a Labour group at the assembly is to outline priorities that if we are in a position where funding does become available, than had been expected, [show] where we’d like the mayor to allocate some of that funding.

“So one is obviously on policing, which is a major concern to Londoners and to residents, but also on our transport network, making sure that the basic maintenance and renewals are completed, and also to make sure that it’s accessible for everyone.”

However, the City Hall Labour group were also accused of “turning their backs on vulnerable Londoners” after voting down attempts to force the mayor to keep all police station front counters open and provide free school meals outside of term time.

The Liberal Democrat group had itself laid down a motion to tackle “holiday hunger” by providing free meals to all primary school children during the Christmas, Easter and summer breaks as well as an amendment to impose a two-year moratorium on planned front counter closures.

Funding from the former would come from £50m in expected savings due to the national government’s expansion of free school meal eligibility to all families on universal credit, while the latter would see £14m drawn from reserves while further assessment on each police station is completed.

The eleven-strong Labour group on the London Assembly rejected both proposals, meaning the Liberal Democrats were unable to achieve a majority.

Lib Dem group leader Hina Bokhari OBE said: “Child poverty in London is at emergency levels, yet Labour is acting as if holiday hunger is already covered.

“The reality is that children across the capital are still going hungry during school holidays and councils are about to lose a key source of funding that has helped keep families afloat during the holidays. This is not the moment for dangerous complacency.

“If we are serious about tackling child poverty, we must make sure no child goes hungry, in or out of school.”

The Labour group said that the national holiday activities and food (HAF) and City Hall’s holiday hope programme were already helping children outside of term time.

The HAF provides free, healthy meals and enriching activities for eligible children – typically aged from five to 16 receiving benefits-related free school meals – during Easter, summer, and Christmas holidays, while City Hall has pledged £6m for free holiday activities and meals during term breaks.

Responding to the motion, Labour assembly member Marina Ahmad said: “The motion does not acknowledge that the mayor already funds free meals through the holiday hope programme.

“The Liberal Democrats have not acknowledged how the Labour government and Labour mayor are working to alleviate poverty. Government funding for the HAF programme now has a better multi-year settlement, allowing councils to plan services.

“People know how to spend money on their own families without a council officer getting involved.”

Ahmad said a fresh injection of HAF funding “makes the motion somewhat obsolete”.

Reform UK Assembly Member Alex Wilson, who also voted against the motion, added: “I will not be supporting a motion to nationalise parenthood and take away parental responsibility.”

However, Wilson’s political group did back the Liberal Democrat amendment on keeping police station front counters open.

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