News

Newly elected London mayor Boris Johnson has fulfilled his election pledge to scrap mayoral newspaper The Londoner in a bid to cut costs and save the environment.

The Tory mayor vowed to cut back publicity costs and claims the move will save almost £3m a year from the public purse, which will, in part, be spent on planting trees in the capital.

Johnson said: “I believe that as many areas as possible should enjoy the many advantages that street trees bring.

“So I have taken the decision to cut unnecessary funding of the mayor’s personal publicity budget to plant 10,000 street trees.”

The news will come as another blow to news-paper printer West Ferry, which printed the 3m-circulation, 10-issues-per-year publication, which Johnson had branded a ‘propaganda freesheet’.

Earlier in the week, Johnson’s campaign team praised its print manager TPF Group.

A delighted Paul Sorkin, head of print and design at The Conservative Party, described the result as “stunning” and said: “It was by far the most important test yet for TPF and they came through with flying colours.”