More news11 April 2008 | Paul Snell
Conservative London mayoral candidate Boris Johnson would increase the transparency of the capital's spending if elected.
Johnson said he aims to "restore trust in City Hall" and "strip away the secrets", by publishing information on the mayor's website to identify all contracts, grants and programmes worth more than £1,000.
This idea is similar to a Conservative party policy announced last year to roll out a system for all items of government spending worth more than £25,000, if elected nationally (Web news, 15 November 2006).
Currently information on deals with suppliers worth more than £4,000 is made available quarterly to the London Assembly budget Sub-monitoring committee, and through questions to the mayor once a month.
But Johnson believes this involves too much research for the average Londoner, and wants to boost scrutiny and transparency by lowering the threshold.
A spokesperson for Labour candidate Ken Livingstone was unavailable for comment, and one for Liberal Democrat contender Brian Paddick did not return supplymanagement.com's calls.
SMapr2008