Pensioners protest Olympic levy

London mayor Ken Livingstone has defended the Olympic package

A group of pensioners who are refusing to pay the Olympic Games levy placed on their council tax have taken their protest to Parliament.

The south-east London pensioners handed in a petition with more than 8,000 signatures demanding the weekly 38p is paid by everyone, not just Londoners.

The pensioners from Bexley say the Olympics is for Britain and it is unfair for only Londoners to pay.

Bexley Council said it also believed everyone should have to pay the levy.

'Good deal'

John Flunder, from the Bexley Pensioners' Forum said: "It's going to be only seven million Londoners out of 58 million of the population that are paying any additional taxes despite the fact that we are told these Games are for benefit for the whole of the United Kingdom, not just London."

Councillor Howard Marriner, Conservative, from Bexley Council, said it did not support the pensioners withholding the levy but agreed that it should be nationwide.

"We will never support any attempts to overcome the law. The law is quite specific. It's a levy.

"They have to pay but we believe it should be national not local."

But the Mayor of London, Ken Livingstone, defended the policy.

He said: "The Olympic funding package is a very good deal for the whole of the London. As long as I am mayor there will be no further call in the council tax to pay for the Olympics."