News from London Assembly Labour

Boris branded a failure at half time

Mid-term in Boris Johnson’s mayoralty, London Labour today published ten examples of how Boris Johnson’s administration is letting Londoners down.

Labour’s London Minister Tessa Jowell said Boris Johnson’s decisions to cut police numbers, failure to guarantee frontline services and hikes in costs like bus fares were a clear indication of the way a Conservative government would act.

Tomorrow, May 1st, is the second anniversary of the 2008 London mayoral election.

Labour’s London Minister Tessa Jowell said: “Boris Johnson is the most senior elected Tory in the country and his decisions are a pointer to what a Conservative Government under David Cameron and George Osborne would be like.

“Exactly half way into Boris Johnson’s mayoralty people are rightly now turning to his record in office, which is fewer police, no guarantee about the future of our local police teams, above-inflation fare increases with a single bus fare up by a third, and a failure to get David Cameron to commit to completing Crossrail.

“Boris Johnson shows that the Conservatives cannot be trusted.”

Len Duvall AM , leader of the Labour group on the London Assembly, said: “Anyone wavering about who to vote for only needs to look at Boris Johnson’s two years in charge of London. His Tory administration has put fares up for hard working Londoners but campaigned for bankers and against higher taxes for the very wealthiest.

“Their presentation may have improved, but London shows the nasty party is alive and well.”

Ten examples of how Boris Johnson’s mayoralty was bad for London:

1. Police cuts – under Boris Johnson police numbers in London are being cut by a total of 455 officers.

2. Safer neighbourhood police teams under threat – Boris Johnson has repeatedly refused to guarantee the future of the existing minimum deployment neighbourhood police teams, saying that would be a ‘one size fits all’ policy and ‘a pointless piece of top-downery.’

3. Breaking his promise to lead the fight against crime – despite promising to chair the Metropolitan Police Authority, he resigned the post earlier this year.

4. Higher fares for hard working Londoners – since his election Boris Johnson has raised the price of a single bus fare by exactly one third.

5. Costing Londoners dear Though fares are rising Boris Johnson is cutting millions of pounds of revenue – £70million per annum alone from axing the western extension of the congestion charge, which will add to traffic levels but reduce money available for investment or holding down fares. The cost of just five of his new ‘routemaster’ buses is now reported to be £7.8 million.

6. Housing – failing London’s communities Boris Johnson’s housing policies make it harder to deliver cheaper homes for those most in need. Abolishing the policy that fifty per cent of new homes should be affordable, planning to reduce the proportion of affordable homes available for social rent, and spreading public money more thinly, meaning fewer on ordinary incomes will be able to gain access to homeownership.

7. Cutting frontline services – broken promise on tube ticket offices.
Boris Johnson’s transport manifesto said he was committed to “ensuring there is always a manned ticket office at every [tube] station,” and he said: “I will also defend local ticket offices.” He has broken this promise with a programme of cuts to opening hours at 278 Tube stations, axing up to 800 jobs, 450 of which are tube ticket office staff.

8. Out of touch – Boris Johnson is for the few not the many. He has attacked as “whingeing” public concern over bank bonuses, calls government measures on banks and new higher tax rates for the most well-off “superpenalising London”, described his £250,000 salary for his Daily Telegraph column as “chicken feed” and calls for a end to the ban on foxhunting.

9. Chaos and poor judgement on appointments – Deputy Mayor Ray Lewis resigned after lying about being a qualified magistrate; Deputy Mayor Ian Clement found guilty of fraud and given a suspended sentence; Olympics appointee and Tory donor David Ross resigned over breaches to FSA regulations; Deputy chief of staff James McGrath resigned after saying black Londoners who did not like Boris Johnson could leave London; First Deputy Mayor and chief of staff Tim Parker forced out in internal power-struggle; Bertha Joseph, deputy chair of the fire authority, resigned March 2010 having been suspended from Brent council after she spent almost £1,000 of cash donations intended for children’s charities in ball gowns for herself (he resisted repeated calls to remove her as deputy chair over many weeks); Embroiled in a row over his attempt to appoint Veronica Wadley to chair the London Arts Council

10. Losing London’s cutting edge on the environment – his own figures show an expected 10-15% increase in traffic when his abolishes the western extension of the congestion charge.

Other news from London Assembly Labour

• TfL reports another huge operating surplus of £310m – it's time to cut the fares - 2 February 2012
• Murder detection rates down 10% in London as police numbers fall - 2 February 2012
• Christine Quigley becomes latest London Assembly Labour candidate - 1 February 2012