Silvertown Tunnel contract costs increase by £200m March 11, 2020 The cost outlay for the controversial Silvertown Tunnel appears to have risen by £200m to £1.2bn. Transport for London (TfL) last night publicly released the contract it had finalised with the Riverlinx Consortium in November. The twin bore road tunnel, which is opposed by many environmental groups and local councils, will connect Greenwich with the Docklands [...]
Police watchdog probe into Johnson and Arcuri not expected before May March 10, 2020 A police watchdog report into Boris Johnson’s relationship with US businesswoman Jennifer Arcuri is now not expected until May at the earliest. The Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) is probing Johnson’s relationship with Arcuri to see if the Prime Minister could have engaged in criminal misconduct when he was mayor of London. The police [...]
Coronavirus: Rory Stewart cancels London mayoral campaign launch March 10, 2020 Rory Stewart has cancelled his London mayoral campaign launch due to fears over coronavirus. Stewart yesterday criticised the government for not acting “much more aggressively” to stop the spread of Covid-19 and called for all schools to to be closed and all large public gatherings cancelled immediately. Last night, he said it was important for [...]
Sadiq Khan on track for landslide London mayoral election win, says new poll March 10, 2020 Sadiq Khan has extended his lead in the mayoral election race and is on track to score an easy victory, according to new polling. The YouGov/Queen Mary University polling, released today, has Khan in first place with 49 per cent of first preference votes for the upcoming 7 May London mayor election. That is four [...]
SME group calls for next London mayor to lobby for business rates reform March 10, 2020 The next mayor of London should focus their energies on improving renting conditions for businesses and lobbying the Treasury for rates reform, according to a leading business advocacy group. The Federation of Small Business’ (FSB) mayoral manifesto, released today, calls on the next mayor to pressure “major landowners” to sign on to a “supportive small [...]
TfL releases designs for temporary Hammersmith Bridge March 9, 2020 Plans to build for a temporary cyclist and pedestrian bridge alongside the partially closed Hammersmith Bridge have been unveiled by Transport for London (TfL). The temporary bridge would allow the Hammersmith Bridge, which has been closed to traffic since April, to completely shut in order to prepare for restoration works. The temporary structure would provide [...]
Coronavirus: Rory Stewart says authorities should look at shutting down the Tube March 9, 2020 The UK’S public transport systems and schools should be shut down early to combat the spread of Coronavirus, according to independent mayoral candidate Rory Stewart. Stewart said the “short-term economic damage” of shutting down Transport for London, for instance, would be worth it to “stave off a bigger spread”. It comes after London mayor Sadiq [...]
Sadiq Khan’s real opponent in the London mayoral election is Boris Johnson March 9, 2020 Just days into the formal mayoral election campaign and Sadiq Khan has already shown why he is arguably Labour’s most successful politician since Tony Blair. The mayor of London launched his re-election campaign last week by labelling the contest as a “referendum on rent control”, demanding central government grants him the power to cap rents [...]
Mind the gap: How to level up transport networks across south London March 9, 2020 It is widely acknowledged that south London’s transport links are inferior to those north of the river. By taking a cursory glance at the Tube map, it becomes blindingly obvious that there is a clear disparity between the two parts of our city, with several multi-coloured lines stretching well into the north in stark contrast [...]
It’s on: Khan v Bailey will be a chance to scrutinise the leading candidates March 6, 2020 Four years ago I chaired the first head- to-head debate between the mayoral candidates Sadiq Khan and Zac Goldsmith. It was a dramatic encounter, with the Labour candidate (and current London mayor) laying into his rival for the Tory campaign’s descent “into the gutter.” Just days before the debate, Goldsmith had launched a stinging attack [...]