A thread -

Now is the time to please check in on your Black, Brown and minority friends, family, neighbours and colleagues.

In many parts of the country, they don’t feel safe.🧵 Our communities are facing the threat of hatred - including violence - fuelled by insidious racism, prejudice, and Islamophobia.

It’s the legacy of decades of dog whistles, including from some irresponsible politicians.

NEW: For the first time ever, our six London Overground lines are each getting a new name and colour.

Read more about the inspiration and meaning behind each new name ⬇️ The Windrush line

📍 Highbury & Islington to Clapham Junction/New Cross/Crystal Palace/West Croydon

Map colour: Red

The Windrush generation continues to shape our city today. This line honours them and runs through areas with strong ties to Caribbean communities.

This has been one of the most shameful sagas in the history of British politics.

Boris Johnson has presided over a government defined by lies, sleaze, an utter lack of integrity, unlawful behaviour, incompetence, and a damaging culture of impunity in public office. 🧵 At every turn, his government has sought to stoke division, play communities off against one another & level down our capital city for political gain.

This has caused immense damage - harming our economy, feeding public cynicism & degrading our country in the eyes of the world.

1. Grant Shapps’ latest TfL funding letter is total nonsense.

It seems he has:

➡️ no basic understanding of how TfL finances work and

➡️ no respect for the truth - a common theme with this Government.

A thread: 🧵 2. In 2015, Boris Johnson and George Osborne agreed to remove £1bn/year govt funding from TfL.

Since I became Mayor in 2016, TfL has saved £1bn/year.

The Tory bus cuts explained: 🧵

1️⃣ During the pandemic, Londoners did the right thing and stayed at home to save lives.

But doing so decimated TfL's finances because it is so reliant on fares revenue. 2️⃣ Unlike other major cities e.g. NYC & Paris, our transport network does not receive substantial funding from central Govt.

Our capital is crucial to the UK economy & our transport system is the fuel that makes it run. Underfunding it is economic ignorance of the highest order.