Fun time at City Hall. Mayor Livingstone was in front of me giving evidence to the Transport Committee (which I chair) yesterday on his desire to raise the Congestion Charge by over half to £8.

This is the same Mayor who four years ago when he came before me on the first of my investigations into the Congestion Charge told London that it was necessary to reduce traffic by 15% in the central zone – this was the critical level at which London would work – for business, for residents, for buses and all.

And nothing has changed. The charge works fantastically well – and there is no sign of a creep back or rise in traffic in the central zone.

Now, his main argument for an increase in the charge was that he wanted to drive traffic down further – by between 17% and 21% and that an £8 charge would do it. This was blown out of the water today as buried in the Transport for London Board papers was the fact that traffic in the central charging zone is already at a 21% reduction.

So why increase the charge?

Ken’s arguments jiggle about. It’s either about reducing traffic further for business OR it’s about quality of life and reducing pollution OR it’s about reassuring credit agencies that he is macho enough to raise money when needed for his borrowing OR it is to stop traffic creep back and so on…

It looks to me more like a simple cash grab.