London Conservatives have called on Ken Livingstone to make himself more accountable to the media.

The Capital's mayor was accused on Wednesday of "ducking" a string of interview requests since his re-election in June.

Opponents charged him with being afraid to answer for his responsibility for council tax and transport fare rises.

"Ever since his re-election in June the mayor has been ducking media interviews," Conservative chairman of the London assembly Brian Coleman.

"In doing so he is ducking his duty to Londoners to account for his actions, which directly effect their lives.

"No one could suggest Ken Livingstone is a shrinking violet when it comes to self-publicity. So the mayor's current silence suggests something else – that he is trying to avoid the media because for him, much of it nowadays is bad news.

"He broke promises to Londoners on the fares. Council tax bills are likely to rise again because of his overspending, and he has signed Londoners up to a poor deal when it comes to paying for the Olympics. The mayor needs to buck-up his attitude and start explaining to Londoners why he is failing to deliver."

Claims

Research by London's Evening Standard newspaper found that Livingstone has refused to appear on various Radio 4 programmes, BBC1's Breakfast with Frost and BBC2's Newsnight on several occasions since June.

Livingstone said the claim was "ludicrous".

"I hold weekly press conferences with local, national and international media," the mayor said.

"Not only do I regularly do interviews with London and national media, at least twice a month I appear on London's radio stations for phone-ins with the public.

"Tomorrow, I will be appearing alongside Brian for people's question time, which is an event where people have the opportunity to ask me and the London assembly questions.

"I suspect that the programme of phone-ins and weekly press conferences alone makes me one of the most publicly and regularly accountable politicians in Britain."