Feb. 22 (Bloomberg) -- Steven Norris, the opposition Conservative Party's candidate for Mayor of London, said his plans to scrap a charge motorists pay to drive through central London will be enough to topple Ken Livingstone in the U.K. capital's election in June.

Norris has said he opposes the five-pound ($9.30) congestion charge because it hurts local businesses. Mayor Livingstone, who introduced the system a year ago, says it has reduced traffic by 30 percent.

``If we turn the London election (for mayor) into a referendum on the congestion charge there would be only one winner and that would be me,'' Norris said in an interview with British Broadcasting Corp.'s television program ``Breakfast With Frost.'' The traffic arrangements have reduced delays ``at a huge cost. Not only is the scheme in financial trouble but businesses in the area have been hit,'' he said.

Groups including the London Chambers of Commerce and the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors have published surveys suggesting as many as three-quarters of retailers in the area where the charge is applied have suffered a decline in sales since the toll was implemented a year ago.

The number of cars entering the eight-square-mile (12-square- kilometer) zone, which takes in the West End theater and shopping districts and the City financial center, fell by 30 percent in the program's first year, Livingstone said last week. Cameras monitor cars that enter the area.

Support for Howard

Livingstone, who will represent Tony Blair's Labour Party in the June 10 London election, has said he's considering expanding the zone which drivers must pay to enter.

Norris also expressed support for his party's leader Michael Howard after the Sunday Telegraph newspaper reported some senior Conservatives were unhappy about spending pledges made last week.

``The support of the party and the way Michael has taken it forward is just extraordinary,'' Norris told the BBC's ``Breakfast with Frost'' program. ``It's the best thing that's happened to the party since 1990'' when Margaret Thatcher gave up her leadership.

Norris, who was the U.K. transport minister between 1992 and 1996 under the then Prime Minister John Major, is the chairman of Jarvis Plc, an engineering company that is part of a group of companies contracted to maintain some of London's underground railway network. Norris will have to step down if he wins the election.

Last Updated: February 22, 2004 06:24 EST