Ken Livingstone said �200,000 set aside in his budget for the event was under threat from the majority Conservative group in the London Assembly.

But the leader of the Conservative group Angie Bray said the funding was not being removed.

And she accused Mr Livingstone of "shameless lies".

Ms Bray said: "At no point was the actual funding for the commemoration of the bicentenary of the abolition of the slave trade removed from the Conservative alternative budget.

We can never forget the horrors of this appalling crime or fail to learn the lessons of this Dawn Butler MP

"It is disgraceful that something as sensitive and important as this issue should be turned into a cheap political football."

However, she said central government should have provided and paid for the event as a national commemoration.

It should not have been left to regional government.

"A better way of commemorating yesterday's slavery would have been to put the money towards tackling today's slavery which sadly still carries on in London today," Ms Bray added.

London's involvement

Mr Livingstone said: "I will do everything in my power to keep this commemoration as a key event in London's calendar this year.

"The transatlantic slave trade was a racial crime on huge proportions and London's involvement was both longer and deeper than any other British city.

"It is right that London commemorates what happened."

Dawn Butler, MP for Brent South, said: "We can never forget the horrors of this appalling crime or fail to learn the lessons of this, particularly for a multiracial and multicultural city such as London."