Labour council Leader works full shift with gritting teams

Barking and Dagenham’s Labour Council Leader Liam Smith was out and about with the Borough’s hard-working gritting teams today to help clear snow and ice from pathways, roads and outside schools and other public buildings.

Joining the gritters for a full-shift today, Cllr Smith thanked staff from across the Council and in schools for their hard work during the wintry weather.

Despite temperatures plunging below zero for most of the weekend and a covering of snow, the Council’s gritting and road-treatment team were able to keep primary and many secondary routes clear.

Cllr. Smith also paid tribute to residents of the borough who did their bit by clearing paths and keeping an eye on older and vulnerable residents during the cold snap.

He said: “Everyone has pulled together over the last few days to make sure we keep the borough moving as far as possible. It’s been a sterling effort.

“Our gritting teams have been working night and day in some difficult conditions, striving to keep our main routes clear. Most refuse collection routes were cleared of snow and recycling collections were done, but there were some delays. That backlog however was largely cleared.

Boris Johnson’s back to work hangover for Londoners

Today Mayor Boris Johnson’s latest round of inflation-busting fare rises come into effect. This will be the fifth consecutive year that Boris has raised fares above inflation, this year the average increase is 5.2%. Val Shawcross AM today renewed her call for the Mayor to limit his fare rise to RPI or less. This would help Londoners at a time when their living standards are being squeezed.

Since 2008 bus fares have increased by 56% from 90p to £1.40, a weekly zone 1-6 off-peak travelcard has gone up by 21% to £8.50 and a monthly Zone 1-3 has gone up by 25% to £136.70.

Labour London Assembly Transport spokesperson, Val Shawcross said: “Today Londoners are hit with an above inflation fare rise, at a time when they are facing a real squeeze. It’s time Boris understood the pressure on Londoner’s pockets and reduced the fare rise to inflation or less. Before the election he said he would ‘bare down on fares’ but we have seen no evidence of this since.

“To add insult to injury Boris has also announced that there will be above inflation fare rises for another 10 years. He just simply doesn’t understand the pressure that ordinary Londoners are under.

Every Labour voter must turn out today or the Tories will get away with it

Following today’s YouGov poll, a spokesperson for Ken Livingstone said; “Today, Londoners can vote Labour to cut their fares and save themselves on average £1,000, and in doing so ensure that the Conservative party is not rewarded. Every Labour voter must turn out today or the Tories will get away with it – they will carry on with policies that have led to recession, fare rises and police cuts.”

Ken has written a polling day message for Labour List this morning. He said, “By spending just a few minutes at the polling station the average fare-payer can make themselves £1,000 better off. There are not many ways you can make £1,000 in less than half an hour. But that is what the average London fare-payer can do from 7am to 10pm today.”

Cameron urging a Boris Johnson vote shows why we need a Labour Mayor

Ken Livingstone said today that David Cameron’s eve-of-poll plea for Londoners to vote for the Tory candidate showed the need for every Londoner who wants an alternative to Tory policies to vote on Thursday.

In a lengthy interview in yesterday’s Conservative-backing Evening Standard, Tory PM David Cameron urged Londoners to stick with the Tories in London.

Labour’s Ken Livingstone said; “The David Cameron-Boris Johnson love-in on the eve of the election clarifies the very serious stakes for Londoners. It is two Tory peas in a pod. The Tory PM wants you to vote for the Tory Mayor so that they can keep going with Tory policies that mean recession, fare rises and police cuts.

“What David Cameron wants is four more years of Tory policies in London. Cameron’s plea for Londoners to vote for Boris Johnson shows why we need a Labour Mayor. A second Tory term would see the Tories off the leash in London, with a green light for even higher fares and policies that will lead to growing social division.

Ken to woo London Liberal Democrat voters with email appeal

Ken is emailing thousands of London Liberal Democrat voters direct this afternoon – calling on them to consider giving their first or second preference to Labour on Thursday.

* It is clear that Londoners who have previously voted Liberal Democrat could make the difference at this election;

* At the 2010 General election, 751,561 Londoners voted Liberal Democrat;

* At the 2008 London Mayoral election, 878,097 Londoners voted Liberal Democrat;

* In 2008 Ken Livingstone got 303,000 2nd preferences. Of these, the bulk were LibDem votes, who had 237,000 transfers after Brian Paddick dropped out, about as many as all the other candidates combined who fell in the first round.

Boris Johnson urged to admit his ’secret fare plan’

With just two days of campaigning left in the London Mayoral election before polling day, Ken Livingstone has put London’s soaring transport fares centre stage, calling on Tory candidate Boris Johnson and transport secretary Justine Greening to come clean on the extent of their plans to increase Londoner’s bus, tube and train fares.

Green and Liberal Democrat candidates in the election have been more open with voters about their fares plans than the Tories.

In interviews and public meetings Conservative Boris Johnson has repeatedly refused to admit how much he will increase Londoners fares in 2013, 2014 and beyond, despite being regularly questioned about what the cost of tube, train and rail fares in London will be from 2013.

There are growing concerns that Boris Johnson’s year-on-year fare rises could be part of a secret Tory deal which is making Londoners pick up a growing bill for the government’s national transport budget. The Tory government has already cut London’s transport budget by 21% and it is feared the Tories want to go further. Has Boris Johnson has struck a secret deal to raise Londoner’s fares to help the government cut funding from the national transport budget?

In an interview with the Financial Times on 1 April 2012, Tory Secretary of State, Justine Greening, came close to letting the cat out of the bag. Ken Livingstone’s fares policy, she said, “would risk breaching the terms of the government’s funding settlement with TfL.”

Ken launches last week drive of Labour’s London Mayor campaign

Ken Livingstone’s campaign for London Mayor kicked off the last week of campaigning with a massive push to drive home the clear choice on Thursday – between a Labour Mayor who will make them better off and a Tory who will make them worse off. On Thursday Londoners will have the chance to cut their fares by voting Labour.

On Monday Labour’s campaign will:

* Launch a new poster (see above) which highlights the out-of-touch Conservative party, linking Boris Johnson’s Tory policies in London with those of the Tory-led government. The poster says, ‘The Tories are on a different planet’, pointing to the Tory double dip recession, Tory fare rises and Tory police cuts which are making Londoners worse off. It will be followed by digital advertising during the week to drive home the clear choice between the Labour and Tory candidates, Ken Livingstone and Boris Johnson.

* Launch a statement from an unprecedented broad range of Labour opinion setting out the central choice on Thursday – ‘between a Conservative Party continuing to rip you off, or a Labour Party that will make you better off’.

Ken: I Will develop project of DLR extension to Dagenham Dock

Ken Livingstone today promised to fight for new transport infrastructure in Barking and Dagenham and Newham, that will boost the economy, provide a reliable link to the tube network and reduce reliance on the private car.

Ken is proposing to put pressure on the Tory government to fund an extension of the DLR to Dagenham Dock. The plan was shelved by Tory Mayor Boris Johnson in 2008 as part of his £3 billion transport infrastructure cuts. The DLR extension would cost £750m.

Speaking today about his promise to invest in the future of London’s transport infrastructure, Labour’s candidate for London Mayor Ken Livingstone said;

“Our economy is struggling and under Tory policies we have gone back into recession. More than 1 in 10 Londoners are out of work. As mayor I will do everything within my power to make Londoners better off, including cutting the fares.

“Tory mayor Boris Johnson’s inflation-busting fares increases, and his unwillingness to invest mean there are huge surpluses. I will give the utmost priority to extending the DLR to Dagenham Dock.”

Boris Johnson’s five lies on knife crime exposed

Boris Johnson has lied to Londoners on five separate occasions about his record on knife crime and youth violence, a damning new dossier published today shows.

Following Tuesday night’s ITV debate, where the Tory mayor was confronted by a young anti-knife crime campaigner over his record, it can now be revealed that he has repeatedly made false claims about knife crime falling, when official figures from the Metropolitan Police show that knife crime has in fact risen every year for the last three years. It has risen by 16% or 2,036 additional offences under Boris Johnson.

Boris Johnson’s lies on knife crime:

1. On 27th March 2012, Boris Johnson told the media that, “knife crime…is well down.”

FACT – According to the Metropolitan Police, knife crime has risen every year for the last three years. It has gone up 16% in the last three years.

2. At Mayor’s Questions on the 22nd February 2012, Boris Johnson told the London Assembly that, “to the best of my knowledge, knife crime overall is down.”

FACT – According to the Metropolitan Police, knife crime has risen every year for the last three years. It has gone up 16% in the last three years.

Ken announces plan to appoint Oona King as Young People’s Champion

Ken Livingstone today announced that he will appoint Oona King, his former rival for the Labour mayoral nomination as his Young People’s Champion, if he is elected next week.

Oona will lead on implementing Labour’s manifesto for young Londoners, which includes pledges to:
* Restore the London-wide Education Maintenance Allowance;
* Re-establish a London Child Poverty Commission;
* Create a London Apprenticeship Offer, and piloting a pre-apprentice course;
* Create jobs for young Londoners from the Olympics legacy and across the GLA;
* Work with businesses to promote Saturday jobs;
* Provide safe places for young people who are threatened by gangs and violence.

Oona will join Ken on a visit to Southwark College later this morning, where they will meet students who have been hit by the Tory removal of Education Maintenance Allowance. With just 7 days to polling day, Oona and Ken will be taking the message out to the young people they meet, “Don’t let the Tories get away with it – vote Labour in London on May 3rd.”