It's easy for the Mayor to blame the virus.
But if he had managed TfL's finances properly, he wouldn't have needed one bailout, let alone two.
THREAD 1/15
standard.co.uk/news/transport…
After all, TfL revenue took a hit during lockdown.
But if the Mayor had built up reserves, grown the network and paid off debt during the last four years, these bailouts would not be necessary.
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In 2014, when Boris was Mayor, he was told that TfL would need to become ‘self sufficient’. The Mayor was given the power to collect business rates, but the Gov grant was cut.
In essence, the two cancelled each other out.
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But when @SadiqKhan won the 2016 election, he stopped the process of looking for savings. He identified zero.
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theguardian.com/politics/2016/…
Just 3 days after he was elected, Moody’s warned him that plans to subsidise fares would be ‘credit-negative’. In other words, bad for business.
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cityam.com/moodys-just-wa…
As a result, debt today stands at £13bn.
That's the highest it has ever been and the maximum it is legally allowed to be.
And we have to spend £400m a year on interest.
7/15
cityam.com/tfl-delays-inv…
And that meant no new revenue sources coming from extra passengers.
standard.co.uk/news/transport…
8/15
And the delays themselves have cost £3.6bn.
The extra capacity & income from Crossrail would’ve put TfL in a much better financial position than it’s in today.
9/15
theguardian.com/uk-news/2019/d…
City Hall office costs have increased by £527m (320%).
@SadiqKhan's PR budget has increased 26%.
He even spent £760k on two ‘beach parties’.
10/15
bbc.co.uk/news/uk-englan…
11/15
standard.co.uk/news/london/tf…
You can read it here.
standard.co.uk/comment/commen…
12/15
The Government had to bail him out. And it now looks like they will have to do so again.
But it’s Londoners who will pay the price.
13/15
This will hurt, not help, London's economic recovery.
Read what Michel Roux thinks about that.
telegraph.co.uk/news/2020/07/1….
14/15
The country is looking to London to drive the recovery.
For that to happen, @SadiqKhan needs to take responsibility for his mistakes and fix TfL's finances.
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