MAYOR of London Ken Livingstone has been attacked for planning a deal for cheap Venezuelan oil for the capital's buses.

Mr Livingstone confirmed in mayor's question time that he was in talks with the controversial Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez.

A leaked memo from the Venezuelan Embassy last month revealed that in exchange for cheap oil, experts from London would provide consultancy on Venezuelan transport issues, provide assistance on security measures including CCTV systems and ID fingerprinting systems.

The mayor met with his "amigo", Mr Chvez, - who has become the face of global anti-Americanism - in London earlier this year.

Mr Livingstone said today that the "complex" deal was another two to three months from being finalised.

Mr Livingstone told the London Assembly: "I suspect we are two or three months away from finalising this deal, but it was certainly the case that President Chavez wanted to target the benefit to the very poorest, the unemployed."

Venezuela has the largest oil reserves in the Americas and it's president is seen by some as an oil dictator who tortures his political opponents; others have hailed him as liberator of the poor.

The London Conservatives questioned the Mayor's offer to provide ID fingerprinting to the Chavez regime, to which Mr Livingstone replied: "The Venezuelan human rights record is better than that of the US and UK."

London Assembly Conservatives leader Angie Bray said Mr Lvingstone and Mr Chavez should be "ashamed of themselves".

"I'm sure the 35% of Venezuelans who struggle below the poverty line, many of them critically so, would be shocked at the cynical siphoning off of their main asset to provide one of the worlds most prosperous cities with cheap oil," she said.

"The real purpose is for Ken Livingstone and the Venezuelan government to indulge in a cross-atlantic socialist propaganda fest, and the last thing Londoners will want to see is their grinning faces in posters as they already struggle on our hard pressed bus network.

"The Mayor is elected to serve London, and to be willing to propose the utilisation of our resources and skills in promoting the Venezuelan government, under the guise of a consultancy exchange, is quite frankly insulting.

"Londoners don't need cheap oil for buses nor will they take any pleasure in the suggestion that they are living off the backs of poor Venezuelans."

Ms Bray added: "How convenient, two to three months to finalise. Chavez is up for re-election on the 3rd December, and I would be concerned if the benefits this deal provides Chavez would act favourably in his re-election campaign."

The revelation comes a day after the mayor announced that cash fairs for a single bus trip will rise to £2 - a 33 per cent increase.

The increases caused an outcry among the Conservatives, who accused the mayor of "over-paying" bus companies while Londoners foot the bill.