Rory Stewart pulls out of London mayoral race May 6, 2020 Independent mayoral candidate Rory Stewart has pulled out of the race for City Hall. The contest has been delayed for a year until 2021 due to the Covid-19 outbreak and Stewart, a former Tory cabinet minister, was unwilling to ask his unpaid staff to work a further year. “London remains the greatest city on earth,”Stewart [...]
Sadiq Khan: There will be no swift return to normality for TfL May 6, 2020 The Covid-19 health crisis has led to thousands of Londoners losing their lives with grief, anxiety and anguish touching too many lives. Many businesses and livelihoods have been adversely affected. It has also had a profound impact on public transport in London – and will continue to do so long into the future. Since the [...]
TfL needs a bailout, but nobody should give the Mayor a blank cheque May 5, 2020 As Londoners start to look forward to the end of the lockdown, TfL is in need of a bailout. Otherwise, according to Sadiq Khan, it will run out of cash. On the face of it, there’s nothing remarkable about TfL needing a bailout. Tube ridership is down 94%, buses down 85%. Even if passenger numbers [...]
TfL should increase fares to promote social distancing, says think tank May 4, 2020 Transport for London (TfL) should increase fare prices at peak times once the coronavirus lockdown is eased, according to one of the country’s top think tanks. The Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) released a new report today, suggesting measures such as increased fare prices would act as a disincentive for people catching public transport once [...]
Coronavirus: Rail unions warn against increasing rail services May 4, 2020 The UK’s three rail unions have urged Boris Johnson’s and other regional leaders to not implement a blanket increase of train services as the coronavirus lockdown eases. The trio of unions said they would “not accept new working patterns that put the lives of railway workers and passengers at risk” and that they “are not [...]
Coronavirus: London’s dynamic economy will return May 1, 2020 The Covid-19 pandemic has changed virtually every aspect of the way we live and its awful legacy will be felt for a long time. Above all, the loss of life is clearly the most terrible and important impact – and the reason we must do whatever it takes to reduce and ultimately to prevent transmission. [...]
Transport for London ‘in line for Tube bailout’ April 22, 2020 Urban transport operators including Tube operator Transport for London are in line for government bailout as the complete collapse in passenger numbers due to coronavirus raised questions over their survival. The Financial Times reported that Whitehall officials said that emergency funding could be released by the end of the week following negotiations. Passenger numbers have [...]
Increasing numbers of EU citizens wrongly denied Universal Credit, says lobby group April 20, 2020 Some EU nationals living in the UK are being wrongly denied access to benefits during the coronavirus crisis, according to an advocacy group for EU citizens. Lobby group the3million, created to protect the rights of EU citizens living in the UK, has said that EU citizens eligible for Universal Credit have been turned down and [...]
Coronavirus: Decision to cut Tube services caused overcrowding, say transport watchdogs April 20, 2020 A decision made by Sadiq Khan and Transport for London (TfL) to reduce Tube services has caused overcrowding during the coronavirus lockdown, according to the UK’s two largest transport watchdogs. The mayor of London, on numerous occasions, blamed overcrowding on some Tube lines to people using the network unnecessarily at peak times. This caused a [...]
CMA provisionally clears Amazon’s £442m Deliveroo investment over coronavirus April 17, 2020 A UK watchdog today provisionally cleared Amazon’s massive £442m investment into Deliveroo due to the risk the food delivery firm faces from coronavirus. The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) called the situation “wholly unprecedented” but said the cash was “realistically only available from Amazon”. Deliveroo has seen a significant decline in revenues from the UK [...]