For the second time this year, TfL has run out of money.
So once again, the government are bailing @SadiqKhan out.
This £1.7 billion bailout covers the cost of Covid — but not the cost of @SadiqKhan’s mismanagement.
1/6
.@SadiqKhan racked up £9.56bn in waste over 4 years.
That’s SIX TIMES the cost of Covid, which cost £1.6bn in lost fares.
The bailout does NOT force Khan to extend the congestion charge, despite what he claimed. But if he wants to bring back services, he needs to cut waste
2/6
He could end free travel for friends of TfL staff, which has cost £159 million.
He could reform TfL’s pension system, which has cost £828 million.
He could end Crossrail delays, which have cost £5.25 billion.
He could cut executive pay, which has grown by £58 million.
3/6
But so far, @SadiqKhan hasn’t cut waste. Instead, he’s raised charges and cut services.
Last year, he decided to raise fares.
This year, he raised the congestion charge to £15 a day, cut the Freedom Pass and closed the Waterloo & City Line.
4/6
By cutting the £9.56 billion of wasteful spending, we could reintroduce the Freedom Pass. We could reverse the congestion charge hike. And we could reopen the Waterloo & City Line.
It's easy for @SadiqKhan to blame TfL's current financial crisis on Covid.
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.
2/15
So let's look at what happened.
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.
At 8pm, I’m debating race on @ITV. Here’s what I’ll say.
I believe in equality of opportunity. It’s the reason behind London’s success.
Equality isn’t about defunding police or ending capitalism. It’s about unlocking the potential of every Londoner, black and white.
The more chances we all have, the better our city becomes.
Opportunity is the route out of poverty, the route out of crime.
I know this. I was a youth worker for 20 years. When you give people opportunity, they thrive. Because at the end of the day, we all want the same things.
When Stephen Lawrence was murdered, Britain was a different place.
To people of colour, Stephen’s murder was upsetting and scary. But it wasn’t shocking.
Racism was more acceptable back then. Racist violence was all too common.
👉🏾Communities should make decisions, not mobs
👉🏾 Statues should end up in museums, not seabeds
👉🏾 We need to be building more monuments to showcase our present day role models, not cutting ourselves off from our past
THREAD 1/17
This is a thread about history, what it means to live in a civilised society and why @SadiqKhan 's hastily announced commission to tear down statues and rename roads across London is both a dangerous and divisive idea.
2/17
London has historically been an international city, and that means we have an international history.
I'm proud for example that Parliament Square hosts statues not only of British leaders, but international giants like Gandhi, Lincoln and Mandela.