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Senior Labour figure Sadiq Khan today challenged Boris Johnson to freeze travel fares for cash-strapped Londoners next year.

The shadow justice secretary launched an outspoken attack on what he called the Mayor’s “abysmal record of hiking fares”.

His challenge comes days after Londoners learned that rail fares would leap 4.1 per cent in 2014, with some rising even higher.

Giving his first speech since becoming shadow minister for London, the Tooting MP said: “Boris Johnson has an abysmal record of hiking fares year on year that has contributed enormously to the cost-of-living crisis in London.

“London fares are now the most expensive in the world.”

Labour research claims that the price of a single bus ticket rose 56 per cent, from 90p to £1.40, in the five years since Mr Johnson became Mayor. A zone one-to-six annual travelcard increased by £440 to £2,224.

Mr Khan, considered a front-runner to become Labour’s candidate for Mayor in 2016, said: “[The Mayor] must recognise that Londoners are struggling and that their budgets can’t keep stretching forever.”

He argued that freezing fares would be cheap compared with cash “wasted on the Mayor’s vanity projects”, such as the £354,500 “Boris Buses”.

A spokesperson for the Mayor of London said Boris Johnson was determined to keep fares low, but that investment in the transport system is vital to deliver better services.

He also pointed out that Mr Johnson had “fought hard” to secure nearly £100 million from the Government to help lower fares in 2013.

“The Mayor has kept fares in the capital lower than anywhere else in the country, while protecting all free and concessionary travel for older people, students, veterans and disabled Londoners, “ he said.

“He will make a decision on fares for 2014 later this year but has publicly stated that he is determined to bear down on them as much as possible.”