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In today's Independent on Sunday Ken Livingstone who is now according to senior Labour officials contacted by thelondondailynews.com "extremely concerned" he may lose on May 1, has made a direct appeal to Liberal Democrats to vote for him on second choice votes. Jane Merrick of The Independent on Sunday said: "The Mayor is directly targeting supporters of Lib Dem candidate Brian Paddick with a "Lib Dems for Ken" manifesto. The outcome of Thursday's vote is on a knife edge and could hang on the second-preference choices of tens of thousands of Lib Dems. Mr Livingstone holds out the prospect of jobs for Mr Paddick and other Lib Dems if he wins a third term on 1 May. An open letter from the Labour candidate pleads: "My pitch is simple – I agree with about 90 per cent of Lib Dem policy and I want to involve Liberal Democrats in my mayoral administration. In contrast, Boris Johnson disagrees with many fundamental Lib Dem policies and has been highly disparaging of Lib Dems in the past, which he referred to as having 'a characteristic human psychological deformity'." This comes after Paddick himself said publicly that he rules out co-operation with Ken but could work with Boris. Sources close to Boris have said to thelondondailynews.com that no deals have been made with Paddick who is polling around 9-10 per cent in most opinion polls. Boris Johnson today is also rebutting a smear from Labour that he would scrap the Freedom pass. The BackBoris team has said: "The Labour Party have been knocking on doors throughout London, telling voters that Boris intends to scrap it. This is untrue and a disgraceful way to mislead Londoners. Commenting on his continuing support for the pass, Boris Johnson said: "Dirty tricks like this play on the most vulnerable in our society and it is a disgrace that Ken's campaign will stoop so low. Our seniors have paid into the system all their lives and deserve free travel - something that is awarded by the London Boroughs and not by the Mayor in any case. "I support the London Boroughs who give free travel to the over 60's. I will work with them to extend it to operate 24 hours a day - a pledge the current Mayor has failed to deliver on." Polls conducted by thelondondailynews.com have shown Boris Johnson with 78 per cent of the vote. Photo by Sergio Motini via Flickr
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