Britain says London mayor 'bankrupted' the capital, demands cost cuts

 

FILE PHOTO: Britain's Housing Secretary Robert Jenrick appears on BBC TV's The Andrew Marr Show in London, Britain October 11, 2020. Jeff Overs/BBC/Handout via REUTERS/File Photo

 

LONDON (Reuters) - Britain is looking to force the body responsible for running London to sell off land and cut running costs as part of a fractious financial COVID-19 bailout designed to keep the capital’s transport system running.

 

London Mayor Sadiq Khan, from the opposition Labour Party, has called for a 5.7 billion pound package for Transport for London (TfL) after commuters deserted public trains and busses during the pandemic.

 

Khan says in return the government is insisting on higher fares and a raft of other revenue raising mechanisms such as increasing the size of the congestion zone which requires drivers to pay a fee to drive in the city.

 

“There has to be a resolution with him,” Housing minister Robert Jenrick told LBC Radio. “It can be for example.. selling off TfL land so we get homes built in parts of London, there’s a lot of opportunity to do that. It can also mean bearing down on some of the costs.”

 

Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s government is locked in negotiations with several city mayors over how businesses should be compensated when they are forced to close during lockdowns and how public services can continue.

 

Khan, who had frozen the cost of single fares, said in a statement the government’s proposals would deter Londoners from travelling, further damaging any economic recovery.

 

He said the government had previously given a much more supportive bailout to private national train operators which have suffered a similar drop in income.

 

Jenrick said it had “to resolve the fact that the mayor has bankrupted TfL and the Greater London Authority.”

 

“We’ve already given multiple billions of pounds to him over the last few years to bail him out,” he said. “How do we take this forwards. Well, I’m afraid it can’t keep falling back to the taxpayers of the whole of the United Kingdom.”

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2020-10-21

 

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time for the finger pointing and blaming game to start, I start, it's BJ's fault.... 555

3 hours ago, Mavideol said:

time for the finger pointing and blaming game to start, I start, it's BJ's fault.... 555

Really? How long has BJ been PM? Perhaps 1 year.

 

How long has Saddiq Khan been mayor? About 4 years.

 

Bankruptcy doesn't happen overnight but over a period of time.

 

quote "London Mayor Sadiq Khan, from the opposition Labour Party, has called for a 5.7 billion pound package for Transport for London (TfL) after commuters deserted public trains and busses during the pandemic.

 

Khan says in return the government is insisting on higher fares and a raft of other revenue raising mechanisms such as increasing the size of the congestion zone which requires drivers to pay a fee to drive in the city." 

 

What Saddiq Khan seems to forget is that London is only a part of the UK and he is responsible for that, whereas Boris has a responsibility for the whole of the UK which is a lot bigger, more costly and a damn sight harder to run.

 

Why should Saddiq Khan expect the whole of the UK to support London? 

 

2 hours ago, billd766 said:

Really? How long has BJ been PM? Perhaps 1 year.

 

How long has Saddiq Khan been mayor? About 4 years.

 

Bankruptcy doesn't happen overnight but over a period of time.

 

quote "London Mayor Sadiq Khan, from the opposition Labour Party, has called for a 5.7 billion pound package for Transport for London (TfL) after commuters deserted public trains and busses during the pandemic.

 

Khan says in return the government is insisting on higher fares and a raft of other revenue raising mechanisms such as increasing the size of the congestion zone which requires drivers to pay a fee to drive in the city." 

 

What Saddiq Khan seems to forget is that London is only a part of the UK and he is responsible for that, whereas Boris has a responsibility for the whole of the UK which is a lot bigger, more costly and a damn sight harder to run.

 

Why should Saddiq Khan expect the whole of the UK to support London? 

Imo London has had two poor mayors in a row (Johnson and Khan).

 

It would be a reversal of usual practice for the rest of the UK to subsidize London. 

https://www.theweek.co.uk/checked-out/84933/does-london-really-subsidise-the-uk

London dosn't need subsidy, it just needs to use more of the 30% of the UKs taxes the city generates  for the capitals use....part of the problem is the city of London has its own Mayor, its own rules and gets away with so much the rest of the country cant and dosnt, all for the benefit of the square mile business residents ... Westminster for example has the countries LOWEST council tax.. 

 

 

3 hours ago, englishoak said:

London dosn't need subsidy, it just needs to use more of the 30% of the UKs taxes the city generates  for the capitals use

I certainly don't disagree with your sentiment however, the Mayor of London (Sadiq Khan) doesn't get his hands on much of this money.

Quote

....part of the problem is the city of London has its own Mayor, its own rules and gets away with so much the rest of the country cant and dosnt, all for the benefit of the square mile business residents ... Westminster for example has the countries LOWEST council tax.. 

 

The 'City of Westminster' is one of 32 London boroughs, and is a completely separate entity to 'The City of London (corporation)', so it's not really relevant here.

 

(I'll own up and admit that I didn't know as much as I should about how 'The City of London corporation' functioned so, thanks for posting and forcing me to delve into things a bit more).

IMO no money for London unless they open up all the public toilets that have been closed under the current ruler. Having to buy something in Mcdonalds so one can use their's is an outrage.

There were plenty of public toilets, but been closed by the council.

4 hours ago, englishoak said:

London dosn't need subsidy, it just needs to use more of the 30% of the UKs taxes the city generates  for the capitals use....part of the problem is the city of London has its own Mayor, its own rules and gets away with so much the rest of the country cant and dosnt, all for the benefit of the square mile business residents ... Westminster for example has the countries LOWEST council tax.. 

 

 

The city of London has a Lord Mayor, separate from the London Mayor. And Westminster is not in the city of London, it is a London borough.

“Britain is looking to force the body responsible for running London to sell off land”

 

Who in ‘Britain’ is trying to force this sale and who to, and at what price.

 

The story here is the Tories have their eyes on asset stripping London.

37 minutes ago, Chomper Higgot said:

“Britain is looking to force the body responsible for running London to sell off land”

 

Who in ‘Britain’ is trying to force this sale and who to, and at what price.

 

The story here is the Tories have their eyes on asset stripping London.

Yes, the heading using "Britain" instead what ever incompetent boob of the day is rattling on is misleading. Britain doesn't speak. Humans do.

Sadiq Khan is a disgrace. A child could do a better job. 

 

All he does is virtue signal while knife crime explodes and public transport is crippled. He should be removed from office and charged with gross incompetency.

56 minutes ago, JonnyF said:

Sadiq Khan is a disgrace. A child could do a better job. 

 

All he does is virtue signal while knife crime explodes and public transport is crippled. He should be removed from office and charged with gross incompetency.

He was elected.

 

The next election is 2021.

 

 

Where and/or who is Britain?

 

The Greater London Authority runs London. It's executive head is the directly elected Mayor.

Most of its money appears to come from a Government grant with some collected from Council Taxes.

Government grants are tax payers' money, so I guess the tax payers of the United Kingdom want to know how their money is spent and if the tax payers have to continue to pay for London... Quid pro Quo. 

The pandemic has affected 'public transport' everywhere. No body using busses or trains. Sad. Companies finding it difficult. But London transport issues can't be a nationwide issue, can it? I guess it is, as the tax payers of the UK subsidise trains and busses in London... And everywhere else, for the matter. I'm not sure any bus company could survive without help, before, during or after the pandemic...

14 hours ago, billd766 said:

Really? How long has BJ been PM? Perhaps 1 year.

 

How long has Saddiq Khan been mayor? About 4 years.

 

Bankruptcy doesn't happen overnight but over a period of time.

 

quote "London Mayor Sadiq Khan, from the opposition Labour Party, has called for a 5.7 billion pound package for Transport for London (TfL) after commuters deserted public trains and busses during the pandemic.

 

Khan says in return the government is insisting on higher fares and a raft of other revenue raising mechanisms such as increasing the size of the congestion zone which requires drivers to pay a fee to drive in the city." 

 

What Saddiq Khan seems to forget is that London is only a part of the UK and he is responsible for that, whereas Boris has a responsibility for the whole of the UK which is a lot bigger, more costly and a damn sight harder to run.

 

Why should Saddiq Khan expect the whole of the UK to support London? 

 

you didn't get the joke... Khan and BJ are the worse mayors London recently had thus the finger pointing/blaming at each other and I am not mentioning the one from Manchester but BJ is on the "burner"

6 hours ago, thaibeachlovers said:

IMO no money for London unless they open up all the public toilets that have been closed under the current ruler. Having to buy something in Mcdonalds so one can use their's is an outrage.

There were plenty of public toilets, but been closed by the council.

Let's  face it. Once you've  eaten something in McDonalds you would need to use their toilets.

 

1 hour ago, Mavideol said:

you didn't get the joke... Khan and BJ are the worse mayors London recently had thus the finger pointing/blaming at each other and I am not mentioning the one from Manchester but BJ is on the "burner"

I don't think you know anything about what either of your two achieved or not achieved.

Plus you left out Livingstone, just for a better socialist picture.......????

Since there are bail out issues with regards to public transport in other cities, even inter local, ad well, this seems more like an attempt from the housing!!!minister to get his hands on valuable land than anything else.

I don't think there are many who would claim that Khan has done a good job, not me that is for sure, but neither did Johnson.  The problem here is that there is a politically motivated needle match going on with Johnson and Khan. 

 

It is true that TFL was devastated when the pandemic took hold and the lockdown meant that nobody was using it.  I know I was still going into London twice a week and witnessed it first hand. But Khan was slow to respond thinking it was short term and he was reluctant to make changes.  Even now, knowing that Brexit and people working from home long term will have a negative effect on TFL, he still thinks that London will bounce back quickly.  It won't!

 

So Johnson is going to enjoy his "I told you so" moment and always refers to Khan as the "Labour Mayor of London".  And of course he holds the purse strings and can make Khan squirm.

16 hours ago, transam said:

I don't think you know anything about what either of your two achieved or not achieved.

Plus you left out Livingstone, just for a better socialist picture.......????

I remember Ken and his woke statue in Trafalgar Square.