LONDON Mayor Ken Livingstone has come under fire from GLA Conservatives who claim Ealing will get just 11 new police officers despite paying an extra £5 million in council tax.

Richard Barnes, policing spokesman for the London Assembly Conservatives, told the Times that despite the extra cash to Mr Livingstone's GLA this year, the number of police officers in Ealing will be 664 up to the end of the financial year 2003/2004.

The GLA's precept, its share of collected council tax, rose by 29 per cent this year on a Band D property. And Mr Barnes said this rise was made primarily to fund additional police officers.

He said: "In order to win the fight against crime in Ealing it is vital that we get more police out on the streets. Despite being in his third year as mayor, Livingstone has failed to deliver on this.

"There are some serious problems with street crime in Ealing and in order to get on top of the situation we need more police on the streets."

Mr Barnes added that an extra 11 officers is not sufficient given the additional money provided by the residents of Ealing.

He explained: "Livingstone has continually bragged that he raised his share of the council tax this year by 29 per cent to get more police in the boroughs but Ealing has clearly been forgotten about by the Mayor."

A spokesman for Ken Livingstone said: "The Mayor's precept increase amounts to 97 pence per week for an average household.

"By the end of 2003/4 the number of police in Ealing will have increased to 664, compared with 586 before the Mayor took office.

"On top of this the Mayor has created a new transport policing unit which puts uniformed officers on buses, including the 207 route which goes through Ealing.

"The unit has been successful in cutting crime, making more than 1,000 arrests since its introduction last June and the mayor's budget means its unit will be expanded in the next year."

He added: "Additionally, Ealing has also been allocated 29 Police Community Support Officers for the coming year."

"The Mayor does not decide which police officers go where that is clearly an operational matter for the police. But it is wrong to suggest that people in Ealing don't benefit from the 1,000 extra police officers the Mayor has provided funding for across London.

"Ealing residents travel outside the borough. Criminals also travel between boroughs just like anyone else and having more police and less criminals on streets across the capital benefits all Londoners."