The Bristow Blog

More Tube misery from Ken's friends

As night follows day, tube unions bosses will order their members out on strike at least 2/3 times a year over quite often utter nonsense.  There have been 16 strikes since Ken became Mayor.  One strike recently was called over a group of employees who were disciplined after being suspected of drinking on duty.

At the end of last week, tube union bosses called for yet another 48 hour strike.  There were hopes of a breakthrough but I understand they have announced today that there will be a strike in a bid to secure 'unequivocal written guarantees' on outsourcing, pensions and travel facilities.

A strike is completely unnecessary and will not achieve anything.  The RMT has been given guarantees that no staff will lose jobs, pensions or be transferred as a result of Metronet's collapse but they still will down tools 28/29 April.

Boris Johnson has called for Ken to give back all the money he has been given by all the tube unions.  Ken should condemn the unions for holding Londoners to ransom and side with commuters and businesses who will suffer as a result of this action.  See below a list of donations to Ken's campaign from the tube unions - source backboris.com

The London Underground is like no other public service, in that strikes can paralyse the whole city. This is why a special arrangement needs implementing to protect Londoners from disagreements between London Underground management and union leaders.

• Since 2001, they have taken almost half a million from the TSSA union, £150,889 from Bob Crow and the RMT and £359,554 from ASLEF.
• Ken Livingstone has previously rewarded Bob Crow with an appointment to the Board of Transport for London.

• Industrial action also has a huge cost to the London economy.  For example, the strike in 2004 is estimated to have cost £60 million in lost productivity.

Ken's broken promises

Boris Johnson's campaign has send through a document that lists each of Ken's broken promises to Londoners - makes interesting reading!

• Failed to prevent a rise in Domestic Violence as he pledged to do

• Failed to tackle crime and anti-social behaviour on public transport – instead it has gone up

• Failed to protect green parks and open spaces as gardens the size of 22 Hyde Parks have gone

• Failed to meet his own recycling targets – London has the worse household recycling rate in the country

• Failed to meet his election promise over housing targets. He is on track to miss his target by 50%.

• Failed to deliver on a 2004 Manifesto promise to bring late night tube trains on Fridays and Saturdays

• Failed to deliver on 2004 Manifesto pledge to increase number of female bus drivers. The number has actually fallen.

• Failed to keep promise made in 2003 (8 months before the election) on congestion charge charging to keep it to £5 per day. He raised it soon after re-election to £8 per day. Furthermore, the Mayor U-turned on his 2004 Manifesto promise to retain the existing congestion charge residents’ discount.

• Failed to deliver on school travel plans. By 2009 he promised every school would have one. Currently only 53% of schools participate.

Furthermore, on transport, after his re-election in 2004, the Mayor:

• Raised single bus journey costs by 20% Raised single tube fares by 50%. In total, this is a 100% increase in fare charges since May 2004 on the tubes and buses.

• Failed a commitment on the environment to expand the London schools environment programme to secondary schools. This expansion has not happened.

• Failed to stand up against controversial figures preaching hate. He invited Muslim Cleric Yusuf Al-Qaradawi to London – a man who supports the death penalty for homosexuals.

• Failed to promote a tolerant and cosmopolitan London by making anti-Semitic remarks more than once – firstly towards the Ruben Brothers and secondly to an Evening Standard journalist. The court case that followed cost the taxpayer £200,000.

• Failed to deliver on a key election pledge of introducing a ‘Culture Card’ in the Capital. This was promised at the last two election campaigns and has not materialised.

• Failed to protect taxpayers’ money – he spent nearly £50m on plans which have been shelved for the West London Crossing and Cross River Trams.

• Failed to protect taxpayers’ money – The Mayor promised to launch a campaign to with major private sector employees to give a second chance to Londoners who have been excluded from the Labour Market. This turned into a scheme called ‘Diversity Works’. It cost £9.8m to the London taxpayer and is currently under investigation by the police as part of the LDA financial mismanagement case.

Livingstone loses his rag

This is why Livingstone is an embarrassment to London.

Boris is our man

It was pretty much a foregone conclusion if you ask me but Boris Johnson has been selected as the Conservative candidate for the Mayor of London race beating Victoria Borwick, Warwick Lightfoot and the excellent Andrew Boff.

I am course thrilled about this because the Conservatives need a heavyweight candidate and Boris is the best bet of ridding London of Livingstone.  This is despite the fact that Andrew Boff is a very good candidate (as they all were in their own way) who I know would have relished the chance to fight Ken.

Boris won with 79% of the vote in a contest where all Londoners were given a chance to vote - I wish a few more had and that the primary campaign was the one envisaged by Conservative headquarters when the idea was mooted a year or so ago.

Anyway onwards and upwards with Boris.  I encourage readers to back Boris and visit his website - http://www.backboris.com/

How much money has the congestion charge raised?

The congestion charge was introduced in central London in February 2003 and originally cost motorists £5 a day.  It was increased to £8 a day in July 2006 and was most recently extended to our borough's borders in February 2007.

After all this time, and nearly £930 million of cumulative revenue, how much profit do you think the scheme has made?  How much money do you think is available to reinvest back into public transport infrastructure?  The answer - a rather pathetic £14million.  See the table at the bottom of the post - you can click to enlarge.

I have picked up this information from a local councillor in Ealing - Phil Taylor - who also runs a blog and has a reputation for giving TFL and Ken Livingstone a hard time on waste and inefficiency - http://philtaylor.org.uk/?p=726.

I accept the primary purpose of the congestion charge scheme is to prevent congestion and encourage the use of public transport.  However, when £7.88 of the £8 charge is spent on administering the scheme, there is something very wrong.  I bet the executives of Capita (the private firm who are paid to run the scheme) are laughing all the way to the bank.

Livingstone gears up for another fight with West London

Livingstone has picked fights with local residents on the congestion charge, bus routes, and on the Uxbridge Road tram.  Just as the tram dispute seems to be coming to an end - another row begins, this time over housing.

The new Conservative administration at Hammersmith town hall came to power last year with a clear commitment to extend home ownership opportunities through shared ownership.  We want to give low and middle income families the chance to own property in a borough with the fourth highest property prices in the country.  Too many people are being squeezed out. 

The council therefore have drawn up a new 'Local Development Framework' that will govern housing buillding policies in the borough.  We want to see 40% of new developments as affordable housing with priority given to shared ownership, low cost homes to buy, and schemes for first time buyers.  This replaces a rigid plan by the previous Labour council that only classed 'affordable housing' as socially rented homes or local authority housing.  Our percentage of 'affordable homes' is much higher than some Labour councils and this in a borough where already well over 30% of housing is socially rented.

However, these much needed plans have been rejected by the Mayor.  Moreover, the Government have insisted we keep a previous Labour plan (which is unique in London) that stops developers using brownfield sites for anything other than social housing.

Incredibly, the Mayor did not tell us this in a meeting or through direct contact with the council - he preferred to give us notice through a press release.  There is no doubt that Labour locally have been lobbying their friend at City Hall to put the breaks on.  This is politically motivated.

What is sad is that this plan is needed now.  Too many young people and families are being condemned to renting or leaving the borough because of Labour's block.  We are in danger of becoming a borough out of reach to hard-working families.

We have some very rich people in the borough who can afford to buy property here.  Additionally, we have one of the highest percentages of social housing in London (higher than Newham).  However, we have very little for those on low or middle incomes.  These are the people who have been let down by Livingstone and Labour, and these are the people we are determined to stand up for.

The BBC join Labour playing 'race' politics

Plenty has been said on other blogs about the comical way that Boris Johnson has been attacked by Ken Livingstone, the Labour Party, and the race relations industry because of a satirical article he wrote in 2002 about why Blair loved travelling abroad.  It was extremely silly and almost no one will take this seriously after reading his article.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/opinion/main.jhtml?xml=/opinion/2002/01/10/do1002.xml 

Why was it not an issue five years ago?

What is of greater regret is the way that Doreen Lawrence has weighed into this debate.  She is a very strong woman who has carried herself with a great deal of dignity following the tragic death of her son.  I hope she does not let herself be used by the Labour Party or others as a way of attacking Boris.

However, I nearly chocked on my coffee when I read this news item from the BBC:

Labour MPs spurns Boris mayor bid

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/london/6931359.stm

The article quotes black London Labour MPs Diane Abbott and Dawn Butler who say Boris is a racist:

Dawn Butler:

"No one with such views can be the mayor of a city with the largest black population in Britain"

Diane Abbott:

"David Cameron is fooling himself if he thinks that Boris Johnson's 1950 attitudes to race will be acceptable to Londoners, both black and white."

The BBC should be ashamed for even reporting this.  Labour MPs not backing a Conservative candidate's bid for London mayor is hardly a story is it?

What is behind all of this is that Labour are worried.  Boris could and should cause a few problems for Livingstone at the next London Mayoral contest.  However, it is both sad and tragic it is being dragged down to the level of the gutter.  Ken has associated himself with some pretty dodgy people with extremist views.  He has also made crude and offensive comments.  I would however be doing a great wrong if I was to accuse Ken of being a racist or an anti semite through misappropriating his comments or associating his views with individuals he has shared a platform with.

Boris is no racist and anyone who would suggest otherwise deserves to be treated with contempt. 

Boris Johnson for London Mayor

I am prepared to admit that the Tory search for a mayor of London candidate has been farcical.  We were promised a 'x factor' style selection contest in which all Londoners could participate.  I am not sure if this is still planned?  The process has also been delayed.

Reasons for this is that CCHQ have not been happy with the standard of the candidates who have applied.  Many of them are very worthy but cannot compete in profile terms or even personality with Ken Livingstone.  The Tories wanted to wait for a 'big hitter' to emerge.  At last they have one - step forward Boris Johnson!

To be honest, I was not too bothered about having to compete with Ken Livingstone on personality - more concerned that we should develop a vision for London and try and inspire Londoners to share this.  Nevertheless, I am quite pleased that Boris has decided to run and think he will add a great deal of colour to this contest.

The most important thing is that we get rid of this elected dictator running our city as soon as is possible.  He has rode roughshod over the opinion of the people of West London forcing on us the congestion charge extension, the Uxbridge Road tram, and other potty transport schemes.  He also interferes in planning matters and the Government have recently given him even more powers in this area.  He prefers to spend his time in Cuba, Venezuala and with all kinds of unsavoury characters such as the radical Islamic cleric Yusuf al-Qaradawi, than he does visiting the many disparate parts of London.  It is to the shame of the local Labour Party that they still support this man.

With Boris Johnson as our candidate, the Tories have a better chance of beating Ken.

Ministerial reshuffle - promotion for Slaughter?

Yesterday our new Prime Minister Gordon Brown unveiled his new cabinet.

There were some suprises:

Jacqui Smith becomes the first female Home Secretary - David Miliband becomes Foreign Secretary (the youngest since David Owen in 1977) - Ed Miliband is brought into the cabinet as Cabinet Secretary - and John Denham is brought back from the wilderness to become the new Cabinet Minister for Innovation and Higher Education.

Junior positions are to be revealed later today - rumours are that Clare Short might be brought back and that Digby Jones will take the Labour whip in the Lords and become a junior Trade Minister (who would have believed that Short and Jones could serve together in the same Government).

I wonder if promotion is on the cards for Ealing, Acton, S Bush MP, Andrew Slaughter.  He was PPS to junior transport minister, Stephen Ladyman MP.  He has been reluctant to use his influence in the Department of Transport to persuade Ministers to press Livingstone on his damaging transport schemes in West London like the Uxbridge Road Tram and the C Charge Extension.  If promotion is on the cards, let's hope he uses his position within the Government more constructively for our community.   

Is Ken about to back down on the Uxbridge Road tram?

The Mayor of London, Ken Livingstone, is not a man known to back down from a fight.  However, the first signs that he might be looking to drop plans to force an unpopular and unworkable tram down the Uxbridge Road became evident yesterday.

I am reluctant to excite the vast majority of local people opposed to this madcap scheme, but speaking on the ITV's 'The London Debate' last week, Livingstone stated "if we get Crossrail we will review whether or not we proceed with the tram".

This is a softening of the Mayor's position and could be the first step in a victory for local people, campaign groups such as Save Shepherds Bush Streets, and the Conservative council who have campaigned against this £800 million folly.

We might at last be starting to be get through to him.  However, I want to manage expectation.  It is not often Livingstone and his local Labour allies listen to reason as they pressed ahead with the C Charge extension despite almost universal opposition from local residents. 

In the meantime, we all need to continue to fight tooth and nail against these potty plans.