Ahead of the Tories' first London mayoral hustings event, Ken Livingstone said:

'The Tories today start hustings in their pay-to-vote primary. Any Londoner can vote - presumably including me. But of course I will not vote, and ask those who support me to do likewise - it's for the Tories to decide who they want to champion their wrong path for the capital - but what is legitimate is to set out the key policy questions Londoners should expect to hear answered by the potential Tory candidates.'

Mr Livingstone set out ten key policy questions that he had dealt with and which Londoners should expect the Tories to deal with as they select their mayoral candidate.

These are:

ONE: Why should the Tories want to overturn the successful course London is on, with London widely seen as the world's most successful city, having overtaken even New York, with London as the world's number one international business centre, winning the Olympic Games, with the most vibrant cultural life of any capital, chairing the organisation of world cities on climate change and successfully rebuilding its public services after Thatcherite squalor during the 1990s?

TWO: Will the Tories maintain the basis of the present revival of London's bus system, which has led to over one a half million extra bus rides a day, and therefore reject Boris Johnson's disastrous policy of introducing a bus contract system that has failed in the rest of Britain?

THREE: Can the Tories be trusted to protect London's travel concessions, such as free travel for under-18s in full-time education, and the Freedom pass for London's older and disabled people, when they have repeatedly voted against the first and attempted to weaken protection for the second?

FOUR: Will the Tories abandon their opposition to the congestion charge and also really back policies to stop climate change and protect the environment such as higher charges for cars responsible for higher greenhouse gases and support 4x4s, with discounts for greener cars?

FIVE: Will the Tories reject Boris Johnson's proposal for overturning the mayor's policy that 50 per cent of housing development in London must be for affordable houses?

SIX: As all Tories now claim to strongly support Crossrail why did the Tories' likely candidate, Boris Johnson, fail to vote on this in parliament, when it is the single most important transport project for London?

SEVEN: In light of the collapse of Metronet do the other Tory candidates agree with Boris Johnson that the Mayor's fight against the PPP on the London underground was merely "ideological warfare"?

EIGHT: Will the Tories admit that their running down of police numbers in London in the 1990s was a disastrous error, and will they reverse the policy whereby they have voted against every one of the mayor's budgets that increased police numbers?

NINE: Also on crime, how can Tory front runner Boris Johnson present himself as a candidate in favour of "law and order" given his documented role in the Darius Guppy affair, in which he was prepared to discuss how badly a journalist would be beaten up and agree to supply his address for this, and how can the Tory party have any credibility on law and order when it is prepared to endorse a candidate for Mayor with such a record?

TEN: On the question of managerial competence, London does not need a Mayor in charge of one of the world's most important cities, and a £10 billion budget, who constantly changes their policies because they have been proved to be disastrously wrong.

Ken Livingstone said:

'In dealing with the alternative to my policies I shall naturally concentrate most on the Tory front runner Boris Johnson . As a great deal of attention has been given to his right wing political views I will primarily concentrate here on London issues.

'First, the Tories must answer why they want to overturn the successful course London is on. London is today widely seen as the world's most successful city having overtaken even New York. London is the world's number one international business city, won the Olympic Games, has the most vibrant cultural life of any capital, chairs the movement of world cities on climate change and is successfully rebuilding its public services after the Thatcherite squalor during the 1990s.

'Given that many of the most negative things that London has had to overcome in this were a result of Mrs Thatcher's undemocratic abolition of London city government in the form of the GLC, wouldn't it be better for the Tories to admit that their thirty year record shows they are incapable of running London successfully?

'The second question is will the Tories maintain the system that has led to London bus renaissance and reject Boris Johnson's policy of introducing a bus contract system that has failed in the rest of Britain? One of the most spectacular successes in London in the last seven years has been rebuilding its bus services. In the rest of England the inherited contract regime for bus services - imposed under Thatcherite privatisation and deregulation - led to the decline of bus services. In London, since I became Mayor seven years ago, bus ridership has increased by one and a half million journeys a day, from 3.7 million to 5.2 million - by almost 40 per cent. Increasing quality has resulted in ridership actually rising most rapidly among higher paid Londoners. The success of London's buses has been applauded by Parliament, the National Audit Office, the Audit Commission and the London Assembly.

'It is therefore astonishing that Boris Johnson in the Daily Telegraph last Thursday announced that he wishes to move the basis of the system of bus contracts that created the decline in the rest of the country and abandon that which delivered the renaissance of  bus services in London. Do other Tory candidates endorse this disastrous proposal?

'Third, can the Tories be trusted to protect London's travel concessions? One of the most important policies I have introduced for ensuring that all Londoners benefit from its economic success has been to introduce free bus travel for under-18s in full time education - Londoners with children suffer particular economic pressure. There is cross party support for this policy - the Liberal Democrats have consistently backed it. The Tories in the London Assembly have pledged to abolish it, Boris Johnson is equivocating, and other Tory candidates dodge the issue. What will be the Tory policy on this vital matter for poorer Londonders and can they be trusted given that it is only a few months since they voted to abolish it?

'The Tories in London have called the Freedom Pass, which provides free public transport for older and disabled Londoners, a "stealth tax" and have sponsored amendments in parliament to end the Mayor of London's ability to guarantee the Freedom Pass. Can the Tory candidates for Mayor be trusted to stand up and defend the Freedom Pass from these attacks and why did Boris Johnson miss this vital recent vote in Parliament?

'Fourth, will the Tories really back policies to stop climate change and protect the environment? All the Tory candidates claim to support environmentally-friendly policies. But three out of the four oppose the congestion charge which has been introduced in London, which is not only a transport policy but also a key environmental one, which has been supported not only by Labour but by the Liberal Democrats and the Greens. The one Tory who has not pledged to scrap the congestion charge, Boris Johnson, however opposed the Kyoto treaty on climate change, is an evangelist for nuclear power and has derided renewable energy such as wind farms.

'Will all the Tory candidates clearly state if they support the principle that the congestion charge should be adapted so that those cars responsible for the highest CO2 emissions, such as some 4x4s and some high performance cars, should be charged a much higher rate of £25 for driving in the zone, with discounts for the greenest cars?

'Fifth, all Tory candidates declare themselves supporters of London's East-West rail link, Crossrail, but why therefore did the only one of them with a vote in Parliament - Boris Johnson - not bother to turn up to vote for it?

'Sixth, in light of the collapse of Metronet do the Tory candidates agree with Boris Johnson that my determined fight against the PPP on the London underground was merely "ideological warfare."

'Seven, do the Tories expect to be seriously when they talk about affordable housing when their front runner Boris Johnson came out last week for overturning my policy that 50 per cent of housing development in London must be affordable? This will sharply shift housing development in London into higher priced and luxury housing. Other Tory candidates are silent on this. The Tory party must clarify its stance.  

'Eight, will the Tories admit that their running down of police numbers in London in the 1990s was a disastrous error, and will they reverse their policy whereby they have voted against every one of my budgets that have increased police numbers?

'On crime, the Tories drove down police numbers whilst London's population grew, which is why I have invested heavily in the police force, increasing  police numbers from 25,000 when I was elected to almost 35,000 police and PCSOs, and funding a beat police team in every neighbourhood. In addition as David Cameron admitted on Newsnight on 29 August, London has seen: "a faster role out of beat based policing than we've seen in other parts of the country and the police will agree with you about that as well."

'As the combination of increased police numbers and the roll out of neighbourhood policing has come through there has been a 15 per cent decrease in recorded crime in London since 2002/3. In 2006/7, London achieved the lowest crime total since records began, the number of murders has reduced by 14 per cent since 2002/3, actual bodily harm and common assault are down by seven per cent, knife crime has been reduced by 14 per cent since 2003/4 and gun crime is down by nine per cent since 2001/02. The last British Crime Survey found that of the five major metropolitan city areas, the Met Police scores highest for public confidence in local policing and for being considered reliable. These are the real measures that permit zero tolerance policing.

'Ninth, and also on crime, can Tory front runner Boris Johnson explain how he can present himself as a candidate in favour of "law and order" given his documented role in the Darius Guppy affair, in which he discussed how badly a journalist should be beaten up and agreed to supply his address, and how can the Tory party have any credibility on law and order when it is prepared to endorse a candidate for Mayor with such a record?

'Tenth, it is legitimate to raise the key question of managerial competence. Boris Johnson used to denounce the congestion charge and now says he supports it, he supported the Iraq war then opposed it, he supported the election and re-election of George W Bush, he struck a stance in support of the anti-lesbian and gay Section 28 and presumably now has reversed his position. London does not need a Mayor in charge of one of the world's most important cities, and a £10 billion budget, who constantly changes their positions because they have been proved to be disastrously wrong. The price will be too high.'